Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Livin On Love

When I was a kid, my dad forced us to listen to Country and Western music on the car radio. You remember the days when the car radio was all there was in the car? No DVD player? When there was an AM but no FM? Maybe that's too far back. That was his favorite and he was driving - and there ya are.

I remember some of those songs. I remember when we got old enough to understand some of the lyrics. "I can tell you've never been this far before" or "Take the ribbon from your hair" or maybe "And when we get behind closed doors" One or two became family jokes and we all sang along.

The singing is the important part. I grew up in the church of Christ where it was acapella - all the time. My daddy was a song leader and our whole family sang (my mom's part is also or so she's always said.) So we all sang along in the car with the Country music - I would say that "Daddy sang bass, Mama sang tenor" but my dad sang lead most of the time. Us kids were the harmony when we got old enough.

I was thinking about all this when we were driving back from Ft. Worth last week. Jim and I found a "Country Gold" station and we were just singing along! I loved it. (It's always a treat for me to hear my hubby sing or to sing along with him.) You should have heard us singing "She's a broken lady waiting to be mended." It reminded me of riding with my family and, even though I didn't know it, I was perfecting my harmony. Those country songs are full of harmony and I've been hearing it for years.

There's lots of talk about getting too far away from our acapella heritage. About our kids growing up without being able to sing the hymns or harmonies like we can. Perhaps we should switch it over to the country station every once in awhile?

Don't forget that tomorrow we start the Spring Reading Thing! Have your list ready to post in the comments!

6 comments:

Tammy M. said...

I LOVE the old country music.
Put another log on the fire....
Baby's got her blue jeans on...
Sleepin' single in a double bed...
Don't it make my brown eyes blue...
Mama's don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys....
Blue eyes cryin' in the rain.....

Steve said...

Shannon loves old country for the same reason. We were listening to a country gold station on the way to church on Sunday. We were thankful that the announcer told us Dave & Sugar were singing the song so it wouldn't drive us crazy all day.

What do you think our kids will think fondly of? For us, it will be Eagles, Beach Boys, Beatles, Chicago.

Anne said...

"There's a tree out in the backyard, that never has been broken by the wind. And the reason it's still standing, is it's was strong enough to bend!"

That is the very first song I ever sang in a stage show! A Jamboree! I LOVE old country, and that is what we played at the radio station where I was a DJ...Fun, FUN!

"You can eat crackers in my bed anytime...baby..."

Another oldie! At one point my mom, sister, and I were either going to be the next Judds, or definitely the Mandrell Sisters!

Lisa said...

Do you ever just want to DIE when you think about the lyrics to those songs though? Can you imagine sitting in a car with your kids and singing, "I can tell you've never been this far before."

How funny it is to look back and think about what we used to go around singing at the top of our lungs without knowing what we were singing.

I had very vivid memories of me and two of my friends standing on our bed singing and doing all the motions to "Greased Lightening." LOL!

Anthony Parker said...

I heard Rick Atchley say (on video) that even if we remain a capella, it's probably inevitable that we will lose the harmonies, with all the unison praise chorouses being sung and no music to follow. He said our 4 part harmony has only been around about 100 years anyway, so it's just one of those blips on the church music radar. But it was OUR blip, and I'll miss it. Actually, I can't even harmonize, though I love to hear it, and can only sing bass if it's not too low.

Anonymous said...

I remember riding in the car with my mom and brother and singing along with Alabama. That was my mom's favorite and to this day, I absolutely love them also.