What makes certain songs our favorites? What makes them last for centuries? Why do you like certain songs?
Like anyone else, I have certain songs that I like, that are familiar, and that I have personally sung since I was a teenager – which is a distant time, for me.
Yesterday, I recorded two additional songs, and the other day, I recorded a third, for the website’s Song Playlist. In a patriotic mood, as always, I sang “It’s a Grand Old Flag.” That song is accessible only from the front home page, at the moment. That song is easy to sing and gets us all in the mood for the flag waving spirit of the 4th of July, when we celebrate Independence Day.
The second song is “Mary Had A Baby.” I like the chord progression on this one and even the inevitable squeakiness of the “slides” as my fingers navigate the frets of the guitar. This song is a folksy one with a somewhat cryptic message. One wonders what the words “the people are a comin’ and the train done gone” really have to do with the Virgin giving birth. Yet, it is a fun song to play and sing.
The third song I added is “Mary Hamilton.” This is a Scottish ballad that poetically recounts “Mary” having a baby after being impregnated by the King. She is sent to the gallows after she tries to hide the fact that she sent her baby “out to sea” – “that he might sink or he might swim, but he’d never come back to me.” The song is a wordy ballad, but it tells a story, and we all love stories, particularly those with human interest and intrigue.
I carefully choose the songs to feature on my website. People from around the world, who are not native speakers of English, have found them useful, as well as my recitation of poetry on the site. Both forms of language help people to hear living language as it is spoken and sung. That was my intent, as well as bringing traditional folk music to the forefront of our memory again.
Oh, yes, I also recorded another song in Spanish, Ven Mi Amor. “Come my love and we will wander through the world without stopping…until we find the final place of love.”
Some songs evoke a memory. For me, whenever I hear Judy Collin’s “Send in the Clowns,” I remember that it was my mother’s favorite song at a time when my father was dying, laying paralyzed with a spinal tumor. The words “One who is tearing around, one who can’t move…send in the clowns,” tell it all. The absurdity of it all. The strange turns of life.
However, songs help us to remember the happy times, too. Broadway tunes are good for that. Songs inspire. They make us cry. They make us feel more holy. Some are funny. Some validate who we are, as a people. Some songs unite; some songs divide. Some are not worth having been written, and some linger on in our collective memory.
Wishing you a song in your heart.
Have a great day! ¡Que pasen Uds. un buen día!
Patricia
