Living The Songs

Subject: Living The Songs
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 04:16 PM

Songs are more than lyrics, melody and rhythm. They have a way of becoming a part of who we are, and I often find myself singing parts of a song that express my feelings or thoughts of the moment.

A couple of examples:

This morning, I was taking a load of cardboard over to the Derby dump.
Now, they're very organized at the dump, and everything goes in a specific bin. When you drive up to the booth, the man asks you what you have, and you tell him. Then, he directs you to the proper place to dump it. Even though I've done it many times, I pulled into the road and prepared to slow down as I approached the booth. And then I started saying to myself ..

"Now just outside of New Orleans (which sent a shiver down my spine, and I changed it to the Derby Dump) there's a toll booth. And when you stop, you have to tell the man what you're hauling. As I pulled up to the booth, I told the man, "I got cardboard, I got cardboard, I got allllll carboard," and the man he say, "Why you all right, boy, you just get on through." And when I run through and picked up a little bit of steam and a little bit of speed, I looked back at the man and DIDN'T say, I got pig iron, I got pig iron, I got allll pig iron."

And thought of Lonnie.

Another example:

Last tuesday night, my wife and I were driving down to Stamford, about a 45 minute drive from where we live. About half way down, there was a tremendous scraping noise, and I pulled the car over to see what had happened. The strap that holds my muffler and exhaust system up had broken, and my muffler was dragging on the road. Now, we were due in Stamford in a half an hour, and I had been asked to sing a song at a funeral. All the way down, that song had been running through my head, and It kinda kept me going. I got off at the next exit, and someone pulled up behind me and offered to lead me to the nearest gas station, as we were way out to Hell and Gone. About two miles the other side of Hell and Gone as far as I could see. So, we followed him down all these side streets until we finally ended up at a gas station. All the time, I was thinking about the funeral and the song I was supposed to sing. It didn't look like there was a chance in Hell (which is a little further down the road from To Hell And Gone,) that we could make it. When we got in to the gas station, the man who had lead us there got out of his car, and I thanked him profusely. He was a short, stocky guy, and I said, "angels come in all sizes."

The man working in the station wasn't a mechanic, and had no tools. He was also on alone, and had to stop all the time to pump gas. And I kept thinking about that song I was supposed to lead, and the words kept running through my head. I called my friend Frankie and told him to tell the choir Director that I might not make it in time, because of what had happened. But, the guy in the station got some coat hangers, put our car up on the lift and "jerry-rigged" (anybody know where that term comes from?) the muffler so it would stay up. We took off for Stamford, taking it easy on bumps, and got to the church, right on time. (I could just as easily have been singing "get me to the church on time.") The choir was already in the choir loft and the wake was already in session. I no sooner had sat down than the choir Director motioned to me to get up and sing the lead. By then, I'd sung the song countless times in my mind on the way down. And I got up and sang.

"Jesus will fix it for you, after awhile."

Jerry

Subject: RE: Living The Songs
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 06:17 PM

jerry-rigged sounds like it a confusion of jerry built and jury rigged to me.

Jerry-built, meaning to temporary or shoddy construction, dates to 1869. The OED2 hazards a guess that it may derive from the name of a builder who was notorious for poor construction. An 1884 source (unconfirmed) says that the phrase is in reference to a particular construction project on the Mersey River in Britain

The origin of jury rig is nautical and dates to 1788. It is from the nautical term jury mast. This term dates to at least 1616 and refers to a temporary mast erected to hold sail when the normal mast has been lost due to storm or battle. It is commonly thought that this sense of the word is a clipped form of injury mast, but no evidence of this longer term has been found. This form of jury is etymologically unrelated to the jury that sits in judgment at a trial.

Subject: RE: Living The Songs
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 06:56 PM

Nice story Jerry.

Have you thought about about a weekly diary column here - a permathread - I would be an avid reader and I'm sure many other people would too.

Your story reminds me of something Jack Hudson, a far better singer than me once said to me.

he said, Al you've got to learn to INHABIT those songs.....BE the person would use those words

all the best

Big Al Whittle

Subject: RE: Living The Songs
From: Dani
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 07:06 PM

Jerry, could you tell more about that song? I've never heard it, and a quick google didn't come up with anything. Sounds like one I'd like to learn.
Thank for sharing (all the time).

Dani

Subject: RE: Living The Songs
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 07:10 PM

Thanks, Al.. I only have something interesting happen to me every other once in awhile....

And Bunna... I appreciate your erudition. You mean I used a quasi-nautical term without realizing it? It does sound like if you filtered those two terms through a couple of hundred years of Wisconsin farmers, you could come up with Jerry-rigged. Interestingly, that's not a common term here where I live, just a hop, skip and a few thousand jumps from Mystic Seaport.

Jerry (who takes pride in craftsmanship and has never done anything Jerry-rigged OR Jerry-built.)

Subject: RE: Living The Songs
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 07:16 PM

Hi, Dani:

The title of the song is Trouble In My Way. It's a very familiar gospel song in black churches and basically goes:

Trouble in my way, I have to cry some time
Trouble In My Way, I have to cry some time
I lay awake at night, but that's all right
Jesus will fix it, after awhile

Trouble in my way, I have to (Moan, Pray, etc.) some time

And then there's a verse, for some strange reason:

Stepped in the furnace, a long time ago
Shadrack and Meshack, and Abednego
But they wasn't worried, this I know
Cause Jesus will fix it
Jesus will fix it
(the harmony singers keep repeating Jesus will fix it, while the lead improvises..

He fized it for my Father/Mother/me
He can fix it for you
You got trouble in your home
Your husband don't do right?

and onand on, as long as the lead singer can improvise lines..

It's a song I do with the Gospel Messengers, and it always gets people going.

The Men's chorus did it in a small church a couple of years ago, and the congregation got so wound up that they were all on their feet shouting and singing... even after we finished the song. The Minister stood up at the pulpit, finally, and laughing said, "Sounds to me like you folk got a lot that needs fixin'"

Don't we all..

I can lead you further on this song if you want, Dani... just PM me..

Jerry

Subject: RE: Living The Songs
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 09:21 PM

Now, c'mon! Don't tell me no one else experiences the words to a song popping in to their heads while they're just going about their business. Or that song lyrics haven't become part of your vocabulary.
That'll be the day.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Living The Songs
From: Ebbie
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 11:13 PM

It happens to me all the time. For instance, the ONLY time I think of and find myself singing 'Weary Blues from Waitin', a Hank Williams song, is when I am literally waiting for someone.

And the other evening at the grocery store I had called a taxi and while I waited on the bench outside the door, under my breath I started singing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. It was not until the second verse that I suddenly realized the relevance.

The brain is a wondrous thing. It is so tremendously logical.

Subject: RE: Living The Songs
From: JennyO
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 11:50 PM

I do it all the time - either in my head or out loud. Just ask my kids. A lot of the time it happens so automatically that I don't think about it, until my son says "Mum, there you go again. Why do you have to turn everything into a song?" Of course, he is only joking really because he knows what I'm like, and I certainly don't let that stop me.

Really, there are songs for just about every occasion. Sometimes they can inject a little humour or perspective into an otherwise dreary or tiresome event - "Job's Worth" by Jeremy Taylor is a good one for those infuriating red-tape moments, and I sing a John Dengate song while waiting for a train:

"Waiting, waiting, for the twenty past four to arrive,
Mate, the twenty past four doesn't run any more,
The next one's a quarter past five."

I think my life is enriched by being able to tap into so many songs in that way - my life has a soundtrack. Even now I'm thinking "how can I keep from singing.."

Subject: RE: Living The Songs
From: Artful Codger
Date: 10 Sep 05 - 01:05 AM

Usually I awaken with a song (or piece of music) going through my head, as the tail part of a dream. Often, there is a recognizable connection between the particular lyric and the preceding dream episode--and, of course, both are connected to what's going on in my life.

Subject: RE: Living The Songs
From: Barry Finn
Date: 10 Sep 05 - 04:38 AM

Hi Jerry, Ya, I do the samething, songs floating in & out all the time. It's sometimes a pain in the ass though. You know with the other 5 or so voices talking in my head I can't make out any of the words.

See Ya

Barry

Subject: RE: Living The Songs
From: Ebbie
Date: 10 Sep 05 - 04:54 AM

Barry, I can relate to that! For years, espectially when I was driving alone in the car, I could hear singing in my right ear. Sometimes it was a chorale group, sometimes a duet or quartet. They always sang songs I knew- and I could make them stop and go back to a certain part I wanted to hear again.

I told my sister this, and she got this alarmed look on her face. I knew she was thinking that I had gone over the edge. Then I told her that I had noticed one thing: If I didn't know the words, the singers didn't either...

Subject: RE: Living The Songs
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 10 Sep 05 - 04:57 AM

well you know us Brits - always on about the weather.

I thinks it an old Supertramp song

Its raining again, oh no our loves at an end....

(thinking that just this morning....)

Subject: RE: Living The Songs
From: bfdk
Date: 10 Sep 05 - 05:24 AM

Well, waaay back in 1986 I travelled around Australia for a month, some of the time travelling on my own, and I carried with me a couple of tapes with the first 3 Runrig recordings (Play Gaelic, The Highland Connection and Recovery). I'd just bought my first "portable music machine", a walkman, and, consequently, these early Runrig recordings take *me* straight back to Australia when I hear them - where most others would probably think of Scotland.. ;-))

So, play me a song like "Duisg Mo Run" or "Foghar Nan Eilean", and Aussie gumtrees flitter past my eyes, colourful galahs or crimson rosellas call from the trees, fairy penguins waddle across the sand, and I feel the longing to go back there.

However, the one song that has taken on most meaning is "Going Home", a song which has since then always popped into my head when I'm going home after being away for a while. The song followed me back from Australia then, and it's since followed me back from places as diverse as Bolivia, Norway, England, Germany and USA.

Going home
When the summer's coming in
And the moonlight on the river
Shows me where I've been

and

As the train is rolling nearer
Ah, the feeling just to be there
Something tells me that I'm going home

- at which point my mind goes "YES!", and the inner calculator starts figuring out how long yet. I love going places, but I equally love going back home again, and this song captures that feeling to perfection ;-)

Bente

Subject: RE: Living The Songs
From: YorkshireYankee
Date: 10 Sep 05 - 03:31 PM

Not quite the same way others seem to have experienced this, but...

I attended a concert (at the Ark in Ann Arbor, for those of you who know & love it); I was back in the US after spending some time in England (Sheffield) with a fellow I was seriously considering moving there to marry -- BIG, BIG step, though -- not without concerns.

Matt Watroba (a local folk DJ & home-grown favorite) performed Paxton's Home to Me is Anywhere You Are; when he sang that line,
I got all choked up (much to my own surprise) and realized it definitely applied to how I felt about this guy...

I've been living in Sheffield for 7 years now (that's why I'm "Yorkshire Yankee"), and have never regretted the choice I made.

Subject: RE: Living The Songs
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 10 Sep 05 - 03:34 PM

nice story YY - my knives are stiil in good nick!

Subject: RE: Living The Songs
From: Dani
Date: 11 Sep 05 - 10:22 AM

Well, last night I stayed up way too late. Kept thinking back and forth, wanna get up and go to church, wanna sleep late and stay in bed all day, should/should/gotta/gotta 'til I feel asleep.

Somehow I set the alarm on my stereo while I was futzing with it, and it went off at 7am, and I wake up to Bob Dylan singing,

"But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody."

YOU DID THIS JERRY RASSMUSSEN!

Dani ; )

PS: I have compromised.

Subject: RE: Living The Songs
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 11 Sep 05 - 12:00 PM

We all do a little of serving each, Dani... Sometimes out of ignorance, but often out of choice..

I know I have..

And what about all those great rhythm and blues songs with lines that just come popping out..

"There's a moon out tonight"
"This magic moment"
"Only you"
"I only have eyes for you"
"Heavenly shades of night are falling, it's twilight time.."

They are everywhere..

Jerry

Subject: RE: Living The Songs
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Sep 05 - 12:49 PM

Jury Rigged could also be termed from a judgement by sailing master captain and boatswain that the repairs rendered the ship seaworthy enough to sail therefore a jury judgement satisying legal status of the ship seaworthy enough to make passage home.

Subject: RE: Living The Songs
From: Noreen
Date: 11 Sep 05 - 09:12 PM

Jerry, I also do it all the time too. My mum did too when we were growing up, and I just thought everybody did.

I realised they didn't when I was teaching a class of 4 and 5 year-olds and I would ask them to close the door by singing a phrase from a song. Can't think which song now, but I can remember the mystified looks on their faces :0)

weelittledrummer- my mind goes a different way on the subject of our weather... 'It's raining men, Hallelujah!....' which can want to come out of my mouth at the most inappropriate times...

Lovely stories!

Subject: RE: Living The Songs
From: sian, west wales
Date: 12 Sep 05 - 07:58 AM

I recently took God-daughter #2 to her first rock/folk festival at Sesiwn Fawr Dolgellau. Just before we got to Dolgellau she noticed a road sign to Brithdir and, with a rather puzzled look on her face, she told me that she sang a song about a Brithdir in her school choir. I knew the song - a folk song - "Going with Davy to Towyn":

Mi dderbyniais bwt o lythyr (I received a bit of a letter)
Oddi wrth Mr Jones o Frithdir (from Mr Jones in Brithdir)
Ac yn hwn yr oedd yn gofyn (and in it he asked)
Awn i hefo Deio i Dywyn (would I go with Davy to Towyn)

... and then it notes various places along the way - many of which we passed or were on the map.

It irks me that the choir leader had taken the trouble to teach the choir the song and hadn't actually pointed out that these were real places in Wales and that this song 'belonged' to a real community.

GD#2 was really pleased. Strangely enough, as an added bonus, one of the groups we heard at the festival then performed it: Cajuns Dembo doing it, in Welsh, Cajun-style. I bought her the CD and told her to have her choir conductor listen to THAT. I don't think she did as she's a bit respectful of authority.

Anyway, it isn't QUITE the same thing as Jerry's story (although that happens a lot too) but sort of in the same ball park.

siân