Old Music

A 1940s hit.
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When I was on trips with my Dad, or his father, one of the things we did to pass the time was sing.

Not with the radio, mind you, we sang together.  Somewhere along the line, they sang and I learned the words and the tune until I could join in.

Grandpa was a good singer.  Dad was enthusiastic.

The sheet music pictured on this page were just a couple of the songs I learned from the passenger seat.

Never in a million years did I expect those moments to be helpful decades later on the job.

My current employer is a Continuing Care Retirement Community.  I work in the Foundation and am blessed with the opportunity of visiting and interacting with residents.

Just a few days ago I was invited to a "Sing-a-long."

I wrote my mother
I wrote my father And now I'm writing you tooI'm sure of motherI'm sure of fatherNow I wanna be sure of youDon't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but meAnyone else but me, anyone else but meNo! No! No!

Just remember that I've been true to nobody else but youSo just be true to meDon't go walking down lovers' lane with anyone else but meAnyone else but me, anyone else but me...Songwriters: Lew Brown/Sam H. Stept/Charles Tobias 

Written in 1918, a soldier's love song
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I remember Dad loving to sing K-K-K-Katy, although I think we mainly sang the refrain....

Jimmy was a soldier brave and bold,
Katy was a maid with hair of gold,
Like an act of fate, Kate was standing at the gate,
Watching all the boys on dress parade,
Jimmy with the girls was just a gawk,
Stuttered ev'ry time he tried to talk,
Still that night at eight,
He was there at Katy's gate,
Stuttering to her this love sick cry.

Refrain:
"K-K-K-Katy, beautiful Katy,
You're the only g-g-g-girl that I adore;
When the m-m-m-moon shines,
Over the cow shed,
I'll be waiting at the k-k-k-kitchen door."
Words and music Geoffrey O'Hara

In the sing-a-long, I didn't know every song in the "hit parade," but once the music started even some of the unfamiliar lyrics sprang to mind.

It was fun to sing.  More significantly, it was fun to relive the memories. 

The words we sang were the same.  Our memories are different.  Each of us traveling to the point in time where the song lives.  

For some, the song reminded them of their youth or going dancing.  

My memories don't go back as far.  Now I have new layer of memories intertwined with some "older than golden" oldies.

On trips home from Grandpa and Grandma's house, my Dad would sometime start to sing one song as we got close to home.  It's a song mom would join in singing.  For all I knew, they may have come up with lines themselves.  It didn't dawn on me it dated back to 1925.

Much later, I heard it sung in a movie by three tipsy fishermen wishing they had a bigger boat:

Show me the way to go home
I'm tired and I want to go to bed
I had a little drink about an hour ago
And it’s gone right to my head.

Wherever I may roam
On land or sea or foam
You can always hear me singing this song
Show me the way to go home.     Songwriters: James Campbell and Reginald Connelly