Old Songs – Indelible Impressions

Sometimes I wonder why things we sing, or hear sung, are imprinted in memory and often surface without our willing them to do so. I asked myself about this when I awakened this morning at 5:45 (a.m.) with the following song playing in my head.

“This is the way we wash our clothes, wash our clothes, wash our clothes.

This is the way we wash our clothes so early Monday morning.”

(Tune: Here We Go ‘Round The Mulberry Bush.)

Once I finished off Monday’s washing, I could not help but continue to iron our clothes on Tuesday morning, sweep the floor on Wednesday morning, mend our clothes on Thursday morning; clean the house on Friday morning, bake our bread on Saturday morning, and get dressed up on Sunday morning.

I suspect this song from my childhood was designed to imprint on the minds of little girls the idea that there is work designated for women. Now, it would be considered sexist and might cause some people to come unglued.

Another ditty that sometimes comes to mind was popular during Indiana’s 1962 political campaign. As an Indiana resident at that time, I heard this song on the radio hundreds of times. (Tune: “Hey Look Me Over)

“Hey, look him over, He's your kind of guy.

His first name is Birch,

His last name is Bayh.

Candidate for Senator

From our Hoosier state,

For Indiana he will do more

Than anyone has done before.

So hey, look him over,

He's my kind of guy.

Send him to Washington,

On Bayh you can rely.

In November remember him at the polls,

His name you can't pass by,

Indiana's own Birch Bayh.”

Bayh is the only past senator from any state in which I have lived that I can name without even thinking.

As a teen, I thought Pat Boone was the greatest. I loved his songs (and how he looked). On occasion I find myself singing one of his popular songs.

“Last night we met

And I dream of you yet

With the wind and the rain in your hair.”

Every once in a while I hear someone in a public place softly singing or humming a tune from the past. This is how I know I’m not the only person with old songs stuck in my head, and that I’m not slightly unbalanced.

Happy Wash Day!

Image from eBay

Change, Change, and More Change

Hubby and I received a record player as a wedding present. It played 45s, 78’s, and 33⅓’s. We deemed it to be quite the special possession.

Over the next few years, we collected what records we could afford and owned enough to provide a decent variety. Hubby liked Southern Gospel. Me? Not so much! Being the more “worldly” one, I preferred Pat Boone and a little bit of Elvis. I can still hear Pat crooning, “With the Wind and the Rain in Your Hair.” Then the 8-Track debuted. Although the 8-Track craze was short-lived, we had sufficient time to get on board and, in doing so, stir up the Southern Gospel/Other Music controversy.

Not long after moving into the land of 8-Trackdom, we discovered that a new development was entering the electronic world of sound. What we needed now was a cassette player to play music stored on little tapes. This was a format I liked, and one I stubbornly hung onto even after the introduction of the next big innovation, CD’s. But then I traded cars and, much to my dismay, discovered that there was no cassette player in my new model. So, once again, I had to pitch my favs - even the Judds!

I have come to accept changes in our tech savvy world, but have been surprised at how quickly readers are moving toward choosing eBooks over print books. In an article published last week by public relations firm, EMSI, the author discusses changes in publishing: (See: “Do You Need a Major Publisher to Get Media Attention?”) If this writer’s assessment is close to accurate, much about the way authors publish and the way readers purchase books will change very quickly.

Even though originally one of the “hold-out people,” admiring the book; savoring the smoothness of the paper as I turned each page, I find myself more and more caving to the convenience of the lightweight reader and, okay, I’ll admit it, feeling a little guilty about that, especially since I have a book in print. But where else can I purchase a classic for ninety-nine cents or even download one free?

How do you feel about eBooks versus holding that hard copy in hand?