Friday, July 16, 2010

Songs to Sing for Frances

A partial list of my mother’s songs:

Pennies From Heaven

Green Grow the Lilacs

People Will Say We’re In Love

On The Street Where You Live

Room Full Of Roses

Sending You A Big Bouquet Of Roses

Melancholy Baby

A You’re Adorable, B You’re So Beautiful

Mares Eat Oats

I Get A Kick Out Of You

I Saw the Harbor Lights

Who’s Sorry Now

Birds Do It

Around the World I Searched For You

Up A Lazy River

Take Good Care Of Yourself

You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby

You Say Potato And I Say Potato

Whispering While You Cuddle Near Me

Maybe I’m Right

Just One of Those Things

Shine on Harvest Moon

By the Light of the Silvery Moon


A couple of my grandmother’s songs:

Shall We Gather At the River (She lived on the Crooked River, a tidal river and tributary to the St. Mary's that forms the border between Florida and Georgia. I always thought this song was about her river. I think she sang it that way. "The River" was a sacred place inhabited by fiddler crabs, transient dolphins running in and out with the tides, and luminescent diatoms. At the river, no one asks what time it is, they ask about the tide.)

The Rose of No Man’s Land (My grandmother loved this one because she was a registered nurse, and there is no doubt about it—it is a compelling and stirring song in tribute to the nurses who served in the carnage of WWI.)

No comments:

Post a Comment