Memories of Music

One thing you young people will find is that the music you listen to today will help form your memories of tomorrow. I can remember listening to music when I was four. Oddly, they are some of my strongest memories, perhaps because they were reinforced so often. I am sure I listened to “Whispering Hope” sung by Gordon MacRae and Jo Stafford close to a thousand times within a few years. It is still my favorite song, and when I am going through trying times, I will listen to it 5 to 10 times.

The point of my post is that tonight I was listening to a show where many songs were being sung that brought back many wonderful memories. Almost every song they sang was old, and they brought back really good memories.

Then they sang “Cotton Fields (Back Home).” I remembered it immediately, but I was having trouble with the lyrics. Worse, I couldn’t remember the name of the song.

Naturally, I went running for my computer pad and started looking into it. I’m glad I did. The one place I listened to it the most was by Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass. I guess we bought the album around 1974 or 1975.

It was an instrumental, which explains why I had trouble with the words. However, there was an oddity noticed, which I am sure you can verify. This song must be close to holding the record for being the most recorded song ever. I think I came across close to a dozen without trying. I was trying to find a copy of the album we bought back in 1975. I gave up looking. I am sure someone would like to sell me a CD or MP3 copies of the album, but all I could find were cassettes.

Nonetheless, my wife told me of an error in the lyrics. There is no place in Louisiana a mile from Texarkana. I guess we can still pretend. It’s a nice song, anyway.

Music, Music, Music

I can remember the old song by the above title as well as “Put Another Nickle In.” My guess is that few will remember listening to those songs by Teresa Brewer shortly after their release as I did. On the other hand, my wife and I were walking into a McDonald’s three or four years ago and kid in the back was singing Rocking Robin, and doing pretty good. (originally released 1958) I yelled back to him, “Hay! You’re not old enough to know that song!

He had a hard laugh and said his mother played it a lot.

In answer to the question asked, I enjoy a lot of music prior to 1970 and a little post 1970. As far as I’m concerned, if after 1980, it doesn’t exist. I like everything done in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas (around 1900) I have listened to the music over and over. The lyric are humorous and the tunes are catchy. There aren’t may who can keep up with “Modern Major General” from the Pirates of Penzance.

I have often said, my favorite song is Whispering Hope sung by Jo Stafford and Gordon MacRae (1949). When I feel bad, I have been known to play it repeatedly for 19 or 20 times. I don’t know. Maybe more. It sort of took a personal turn as I walked guard duty in Vietnam in the morning as the rain beat down me in December of 1969. Then of course, as the song says, the sun came up. The world seemed so much better as I remembered the words.

Stafford and MacRae recorded I guess a dozen or so Christian songs about the same time and they are all really good. I remembered listening to them when I was 4 and 5. The rest, I don’t remember all that much, but I always keep Whispering Hope handy.

I am a big fan of the show tunes of the 40’s, 50’s and a few of the 60’s. I have copies of many of them. If I were to lose them, I would replace them. This is especially true of Fiddler on the Roof. I have no idea how many times I’ve watched it or listened to the songs. It’s just one of those things that touched my mind and also touched my heart. It is also one of the main reasons that I have become so pro-Israel. I do not understand how a person can see the show and pay close attention to it without also being in favor of the Israeli people.

It is something of a oddity, I guess, that I also like most the ABBA songs. I also enjoy listening to the instrumentals whenever I hear them. None the less, my favorite of these is Chiquitita. Strangely, I have not met many who don’t like the song. Or, maybe it’s not so strange.

When I was seven, I remember listening to a song, “Donkey Serenade,” in which the character in the movie is singing to mules drawing a stage. Okay. That one sounds strange I admit it. But it’s no less strange than the beautiful song from “Paint Your Wagons,) I Talk to the Trees. By the way, those are also the first words in the lyrics. However, to be truthful, I’d love to be able to sing well enough to do both songs justice.

Speaking of strange songs, consider the song, “Does Eat Oats (and little lambs eat ivy)

I guess the way to sum it up. I like what I like and I don’t like what I don’t like. If you disagree with it, it is entirely up to you. It is also a shame you will never get to listen to that man serenading the mules.

Speaking of mules, how many out there have heard “On the Trail,” by Ferde Grafe. It was so good it was used for advertising way back when.

Daily writing prompt
What is your favorite genre of music?