Mom, the Song Bird

Music has always played (pardon the pun) a big role in our family growing up. This is probably not surprising to some considering that my sister is now a professional violinist. But the entire family was involved in music in some way or another. My dad played trombone as a teen and continued to be a lover of music (particularly jazz and classical) into adulthood. My mom played the piano and even taught lessons for a time when I was little. As a result of my music-loving parents, my sisters and I grew up either playing the piano or listening to Dad's large and varied record collection. In fact, I remember so many nights spent dancing (or rather, being flung around and flipped "swing" dance-style) with Dad to his big band music and being devastated when I accidentally broke his Glenn Miller record. I couldn't have been older than ten.

But, as long as I can remember, there were Mom's songs. I remember Mom singing to us (or rather at us) all the time as a girl. Yes, it's a sweet memory, a mother lovingly singing around the home... However, this woman's repertoire was anything but ordinary (for a middle-class, non-religious, white woman living in the twenty-first century!)

I don't know where she learned her songs, and most of the time (even now) when she sings one I haven't heard, I swear she's making it up. Her most frequent vocals involve many spirituals (probably largely unknown to the modern world except for having been passed down from family to family since the pre-Civil War days,) hyms, folk tunes and carols. She hits everything from "The Old Rugged Cross" to "Froggy Went a Courtin'" to a rendition of "Sleigh Ride" that even its original composer didn't know existed.

There's also the gusto with which she sings her favorites. Until I was in my late 20s and Johnny Cash became popular again, I swore that the "Daddy" and "Mama" roles were reversed in the song, "Daddy Sang Bass." When my mom sang it, she dug down for the deepest voice she could muster, "Mama sang bass..." and then lifted to the highest falsetto, "Daddy sang tenor, Me and little brother would join right in ..." And that's what the song always was to us, because that's the way Mom sang it!

Although she is a very clever woman capable of writing her own songs, I know that somewhere (outside of our family) these songs do exist. Occasionally, if one of the songs Mom is singing is particularly unbelievable, we call in the family elder, my grandma (Mom's mom.) Grandma is our best source for helping to identify where these interesting, sometimes ridiculous, songs came from. Sometimes Grandma can even help add a long-forgotten verse or provide some background for where Mom originally learned the tune.

Mom's singing will forever be remembered by her daughters, and hopefully the songs she sings will be carried down. Even now, one of my nephews has an amazingly creative way of mixing up lyrics of popular songs, actually making the narrative of the music BETTER than the original. I have no doubt that this musical genius/eccentricity came directly from my mom.

Today is Mom's birthday. I plan on calling to wish her a happy birthday through a medley of favorites from her song collection, ending in a particularly dramatic rendition of the traditional "Happy Birthday" sung in alternating bass and tenor.