Still musing about music...

Aunt Sandra, who recently visited my folks in Texas, (she my dad's baby sister), e-mailed me in response to my blogging about songs:

"Your blog about music and songs reminded me that while we were at your mom and dad's, with Beverly,[my sister] whom Billie [my aunt] and I had not seen since the anniversary party for me and maybe our mother's funeral for Billie, Pepper [my dad] and Beverly sang a duet to 'You Are My Sunshine.' It was a vocal and piano duet. I remember our daddy singing that and it being one of his favorite songs of all times because it was written by the former governor of Louisiana, where daddy was born and raised. I think he really admired Jimmie Davis , as a song writer,and, as a governor, and went around the housesinging that song a lot, it being such an easy one to remember.

"Pepper still has a strong voice when he sings. Someone asked me to sing at church that Sunday morning. Then Beverly and I were going to sing a duet and the first thing I knew, it was your daddy, Beverly , Lisa and me in a quartet as the special music for the Sunday morning service. That was really a special song for me , to be able to sing with my brother and nieces, in that beautiful new sanctuary, in that wonderful church."

Thanks, Aunt Sandra! I agree that Daddy still has a beautiful singing voice. It makes me sad, though, that he's lost his ability to play the piano. Daddy had a unique style of playing...it was by ear, and it was kind of his own little unusual technique, but it worked! I have so many memories of him playing and singing...it was one of his very favorite things to do. In fact, when my parents would come up and visit me, he would often be at loose ends because I didn't have a piano.

Now I have a piano, but he won't be visiting me again.

"O Brother Where Art Thou" revisited...


My dear friend Randy e-mailed me about "O Brother Where Art Thou." Joy and Aaron had commented that they loved the soundtrack, but thought it was better than the movie...and I said I thought there were some pretty hilarious moments in the movie, although I couldn't recommend it unreservedly.

Randy begged to differ: "I love the soundtrack because it has a lot of my family history in it. But, as we are all different, the movie, to me anyway, was a stitch. I have always been fond of anything by the Coen brothers... I guess in a satiric sort of way, they do show the foibles of misguided religious thought.

"More than anything I see the movie as first rate lunacy with a laugh a minute. But, then again, I am the same person who absolutely loves 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail.'"

Now there's another one with some hilarious stuff in it!