Each of us has very personal songs. To each of us, songs are simply an artist, a melody, or a collection of words. A genre. A style. Something that just rings in our mind and heart when we hear it. We sing along even when we do not know all the words! Yes. I’m guilty of making up words to fill in the gaps!
Growing up in the ’50s and ’60s, I remember artists I connected to by song and tune—names like Jim Reeves, Eddy Arnold, The Kingston Trio, and Herb Alpert. (Alpert co-wrote Sam Cooke’s “Wonderful World”). At a local Mexican restaurant with a Jukebox, I would play only songs that meant anything to me. A nickel per song, or so I remember.
In the Gospel Realm, I thoroughly enjoyed some music by the Conqueror’s Quartet. Along with all those wonderful groups we used to listen to at the Music Hall. The Galileans, Imperials, Blackwood Brothers, Happy Goodmans, Florida Boys, and a host of other names that just slip through my mind like water through my fingers! After each performance, you could gather around their record sales booth and meet them personally.
The best thing? These singing events happened every other month or so!
Growing Up
Growing up, listening to the radio was not that important to me. We could not record special music to listen to at will – for that, you had to buy an album at the music store. I remember only an AM radio in the car. We only found FM radio in the house in a big case that included a record player! They both took antennas to the outside world to listen to. It took a long time till an FM receiver would be added automatically to every car stereo system!
My first memory thinking about what the radio represented? I’m maybe 4-years old. I imagined all the artists waiting on a stage for their time to sing. Something about a record of songs on a spindle was still a little foreign to me.
I do not remember spending much hard-earned money on albums. The few I bought were only for the songs I knew, not what was new on the Top 10. After all, I worked hard at mowing yards to spend money, and music was not where I would spend those dollars! I remember going to a place where these groups and individuals sang as often as was practical. Today we would call it a concert. Eddy Arnold, Marty Robbins, and Ray Price were some favorites. Ray Price usually performed at the Pasadena Dodge Dealer in Pasadena, Texas! For Free!
Dad
Dad was always going to places to hear these singers at local performances where they were free. He had a good singing voice and mostly sang acapella due to hearing issues. It seems Dad could carry a note and hit it right on without having a sound to guide him. He sang at church, gospel singing events, funerals (When They Ring Those Golden Bells was most popular), and reunion events. “George, sing us a song…!”. The Blue Barn (and several places with names like this) was where you could hear local talent. And get on stage yourself. Dad often did. Acapella. He was singing one of his favorites to a crowd that came to listen to the local talent.
But mostly, I remember his singing as we drove down the road. He was always singing, as I remember it, from Gospel to Country. It was only later that I learned dad struggled with talking to mom while dating, but he could sing to her!
Songs and singing defined our lives growing up. Mom would try to teach us parts. You know, using words like alto, tenor, or soprano. It made no sense to me. I could never find my place, and I never knew how to balance the sounds. Just give me the melody. The main notes, I think you call them the melody, well, that’s the best I’ll ever do.
Later On
It was 1974. The year we married. We asked dad to sing the Wedding Song (There Is Love) at our wedding. My sister played it on the piano, and I still have that songbook here in my office. Noel Paul Stookey wrote it of Peter, Paul, and Mary fame. Several of their popular songs came from writers like John Denver (Leaving on a Jet Plane). Okay. I unabashedly state that John Denver has been my favorite of favored singers and songwriters since the ’70s. More of his ballads take me to Alaska than any other writer I know!
My kids have learned what I enjoy. Every so often they send me a name that I must listen to… and most of the time they are spot on. I have a few names and songs from their recommendations! Nora Jones and Allison Krauss. These opened the door for me to find other voices to enjoy.
It seems like most of the songs I enjoy are the songs I’ve sung for years. Or from voices I can understand! My ear specialist tells me there is a range of sounds that I cannot hear. If you talk or sing in that area then I am simply clueless about what you are saying. It must be that most “popular” singers are purposely singing, so I can’t hear them!
Special Song Memory
Our evangelist, Preston Plemons, closed out the service with an old favorite of Andrae Crouch a few years ago. A favored singer, famous in the ’70s. We sang several Crouch songs in the Youth Choir. Do you remember “Take Me Back“? It was the name of an album and music from 1975.
(Chorus)
Take me back, take me back, dear Lord
To the place where I first received you.
Take me back, take me back, dear Lord, where I first believed.
(Verse)
I feel that I’m so far from you, Lord
But still, I hear you calling me
Those simple things that I once knew,
The memories are drawing me.
I must confess, Lord, I’ve been blessed
But yet my soul’s not satisfied.
Renew my faith, restore my joy
And dry my weeping eyes.
Here’s My Thought Today
Songs open up my heart and spirit to think deeper about why I like certain songs and artists. Take Me Back. All those songs we have sung through the years were the right song, at the right time. Perfect for the moment. Most of these songs came at the end of the church service, sweet closures that sent us on our way. These moments cemented the artist, music, and style in my spirit.
What am I saying? I have some special memories of songs, singers, and players that were local to my world.
In my young teen years, Sis Odom would dig into her purse. You knew what she was about to do. With her old harmonica in hand, she simply played old and older songs.
Tim Sonnenberg knew how to lead a sweet grouping of songs with a tender voice. Never boisterous. Just spot on!
Of my age group, Mike Carlen could lead songs with a range from low to high. He could take us from song to song without pausing.
I have appreciated those that lead us with songs that bring us closer to God in our modern world. Though the songs are newer and may never become my favorite, they have a purpose.
Psalms
The Book of Psalms is not a single book. Instead, it is a collection of 150 songs, and each chapter is essentially a book in and of itself. The longest book is Psalms 119, a group of shorter writings. Every 8 or so verses it starts with a new letter of the 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. Each section has a focus. If you read it in this light you will see that every focused reference is about God’s Word. The law, testimonies, precepts, statutes, commandments, judgments.
This Psalms tells of David’s focus on God’s Word.
Most Psalms are written as a poem meant to be put to a melody and sung with proper respect for the message being delivered. Imagine David penning Psalms 51 after he had sinned with Bathsheba. It is not joyful writing, and it is a very public event. I suspect just about everyone knew it. Go ahead, click it here and imagine a country singer trying to do it justice!
Where Do You Find Your Song?
Somewhere in my stack of cassette tapes in the garage, I have a treasure. A small selection that I found somewhere in Alaska, Psalms set to music. Through the years, we have sung various Psalms in church services. Many songs discovered their roots in one of the books of Psalms. You could spend every day reading a new psalm. Before long, you will find an excellent ol’ favorite that helps you through your valley (Psalms 23)—or even going through a sin (Psalms 51). Suppose you want to Bless the Lord (Psalms 34).
Songs speak to our hearts and our situations in life. Where do you find your source that will be there when you need it? Is it from something loud and fast, or slow and sweet? Share on XPerhaps, when times are good, you should start jotting down your favorite sources. The future is coming when you will wish for that song that will take your breath away!
One Last Thought
It was just a few days before dad passed. I was planning my trip to Houston a few days after my birthday in January. Mom got the phone and asked me to sing with Dad. Facetime. What a marvelous invention. Holding the phone to him, I started singing one of our favorites from years gone by.
“This world is not my home. I’m just a passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door. And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore. O’ Lord, you know I have no friend like you. If heaven’s not my home, then Lord, what will I do? The Angels beckon me from heaven’s open door. And I can’t feel at home in this world. No more.”
Who was to know that these would be the last words I had with him. His voice was gone, and he mostly mouthed the words. But, and it’s in my way of thinking this thought through, the hope of these words, alongside a family you loved so much, was his anchor about where his future was – I can’t feel at home, in this world—no more. See you soon, dad! I love and miss you so much.