Country Gal by Vanita Blundell 7-11-06

Country Gal by Vanita Blundell 7-11-06
Music has been a big part of my life as I was growing up. I think that you can tell a lot about the times that we live in by the music that is written. Take the roaring 20’s it was a time that America was happy and the music showed it. The 20’s had the flappers and the music was lively. In the 30’s during the depression the blues were inspired. They sang of the hardships of the times. During war times songs like “Don’t Sit under the Apple Tree” were popular. The fifties were exciting with the sock hops. I remember some of Woodstock - the Beatles - Elvis- Porter Wagner- Buck Owens- Loretta Lynn - Alice Cooper -Pink Floyd (I thought I was a rebel for a while).
We lived over 20 miles from town so we had lots of time in the car going back and forth and we spent a lot of that time singing like ‘Found a Peanut’- ‘Mary had a Little Lamb’ -‘White Coral Bells’. Mom taught me how to sing a round. Dad sang a lot also. When Dad would rock me to sleep he would sing the Fly song. Dad sang on horseback often. When he lived with and worked for Mr. and Mrs. S.A, Delair - Mrs. Delair taught him the song ‘the Unfortunate Man’. It was funny and fit Dad. I have never heard the song other than when Dad sang it, I don’t know if it was something that she wrote or something that she had learned as a child and passed it along to Dad. He liked to sing songs that would make me cry-like ‘Poor Charley’ and ‘The Baggage Coach Ahead’. He thought that it was so funny to see me bawling my eyes out about poor ol’ Charley dying and not being able to see his mother when the work is done this fall. Or about the poor baby crying on the train and the dad not being able to comfort the child because the mother was in the baggage coach in a coffin. I never could handle the song ‘Shep’. As I got older I heard the song the ‘‘The Letter Edged in Black’ - that song broke my heart, too. I got to thinking the other day Life is made up of music- When you are young you hear a song and think that you would like to have that sung at your birthday party then you hear a song when you are dating and you have your song then you hear a song that is just perfect for your wedding, After that you hear a song and think that you would like to have that song sung at your 50th wedding anniversary- years past and you hear a song that is near and dear to your heart and you think that is what I want sung at my funeral.