“We travel along, singing a song, side by side.”
Who knows when
the last time was when I thought of this old song from my childhood?
Then it hit me; for reasons I can’t begin to understand. I was sipping
on my morning cup of “joe” and suddenly the words of this song from my
childhood began to flow from the memory potion of my mind to the extent
that I got a bit emotional for a couple of minutes.
Suddenly I was
thinking of listening to this old classic on the Lawrence Welk Show on a
cold winter night while the firewood in our stove crackled as my mother
popped popcorn and made hot chocolate so we could enjoy an evening of
relaxation watching our box Zenith TV.
Before the evening was
over, we might hear the likes of Perry Como singing, “Catch a falling
star and put it in your pocket, save it for a rainy day,” or close his
program by singing something sacred as, “Bless this house, O Lord we
pray, make it safe by night and day.”
Then there was the Tennessee Ernie Ford Show with its ever-popular, “Sixteen Tons.”
All
day now, songs from that era of my mind have been celebrating a concert
with such songs as, “How much is that doggy in the window,” “Micah
rowed the boat ashore,” and “Hot diggidy, dog diggidy, boom what you do
to me.”
Of course, there were the special Christmas songs of the
era, some of which I played on a 78 RPM record that played on a record
player that had to be cranked up in order to perform.
Then there
were the special Christmas songs of the era, “All I want for Christmas
is my two front teeth,” “I saw momma kissing Santa Claus,” and “Oh
Christmas Tree.”
The infinite portion of the “renewed mind” that
triggered old song memories becomes more keen with the recollection of
each of those songs of the 1950’s.
Deep on this memory journey, a
song comes back that used to make me cry when I was a young boy. It was
written by the country/folk writer, Stuart Hamblin, based on a lonely
journey through a valley in California.
In the midst of his
journey, he came across an old house that seemed still and empty until
he heard the lonely whining of a dog. Presently, a thin pup came out of
the house and beckoned Hamblin to the old rickety shelter.
Hamblin
followed the wagging tail of the old pup, knowing that he was being led
to someone somewhere. Inside a parlor, suddenly he spotted the lifeless
body of an old prospector whose lifeless body lie still on a daybed.
Beside him was a blanket where the dog had apparently guarded the body
of his master until Hamblin arrived.
In the distance of his mind,
Hamblin imagined a house once filled with the sounds of children, home
and family warmth. Overwhelmed by the empty home and dead owner, but a
faithful dog, Hamblin sat down and wrote the following words to the
song, “This Old House.”
“This ole house once knew his children
This ole house once new his wife This ole house was home and comfort As
they fought the storms of life This ole house once rang with laughter
This ole house heard many shouts Now he trembles in the darkness When
the lightning walks about.”