Singin' - Rain or... Shine?

(September Song Project, #2)

I was listening to some children singing the other day and thought to myself, “My goodness, songs have changed a lot since I was little…”  Then I paused to think... and gave myself a case of the giggles. I didn't exactly sing normal songs myself, come to think of it. 

We always sang in the car, Mom and I, but for whatever reason, there was never a radio on. Instead, we had to come up with our own playlists - and since a repertoire consisting solely of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” and "The Eentsy Weentsy Spider" would have gotten very old, very fast, Mom had me cutting my teeth on old sheet music ditties quicker ’n’ you could say, “Happy Fourth Birthday!”

We did a lot of Workin’ on the Railroad ... It was probably the travel theme that made it such a popular choice but I also never missed an opportunity to throw myself, heart and soul, into those Fi Fi Fiddly-eye-oh’s - particularly that final, drawn-out, high-note of an “OoooooooooooOH!” So it's entirely possible that I stacked the deck a bit with some preemptive launches.

Another popular tune had us moderating the war between the sexes with Reuben and Rachel, in which we'd take turns singing each part and sometimes even try it out as a round.

But my absolute favorite car singing experience was when I got to belt out the words of that paean to moonshine, Little Brown Jug. It wasn’t a well-known song in my tiny New England village but Mom grew up in the coal mining hills of West Virginia, so that might explain how it made the cut. Whatever the origin, I just LOVED singing the “Ah ha ha ha”’s. To the extent, in fact, that it’s still one of the snatches of song that slip out of my mouth when I’m just warbling mindlessly.

Although, on second thought, I'm starting to wonder if it's the song itself - or if it might be those West Virginia genes coming to the fore... Because there's another sticky-bit of song in my head that strikes a similar chord.

You see, about the same time that Mom and I were wearing out the lyrics of Little Brown Jug, my brother was honing his banjo skills on The Ballad of Thunder Road - and whenever he'd get to the chorus, the whole family would break out in boisterous accompaniment, from all corners of the house. Even to this day, you can still hear "Thunder, thunder, over Thunder Road!" around these parts. (Thunder was his engine and white lightning was his load, don'cha know?)

I also still have a bunch of those old brown jugs still kicking around in the attic.
Hmmmmmm... (she retreats thoughtfully)