Musical Memories

I was wondering about songs, music, smells, photos, etc., and how they rake up old memories. (And, no!, it is not enough wonder to make me go do days of research on the subject!) It was brought on when I was reading Joanna's story on August 9, about her iPod and songs and her comment, "I'm glad Dad got you to fix that "10,000 rosaries last year" thing. I was gonna comment about that and now don't have to do so! Are those quotes in the sketch from Tommy?" (Tommy was my brother and it was his birthday.) Joanna knows a lot of the "oldies" because of my Mom, her grandmother. The verse on my sketch was from "The Old Chisholm Trail", a song that my Mother used to sing. She knew so many verses and every once in a while one pops in my head. That day, I was sketching clouds so, in it popped, "Cloudy in the west and looking like rain, my damned ole slicker's in the wagon again!" Another verse from that tune I always remember was, "A stray in the herd and the boss said, "Kill it", so I shot it in the rump with the handle of a skillet". Makes a lot of sense, huh? Why would I remember that one?

This brought to mind a song my Dad wrote. He wrote a poem, really, and then met Ernest Tubbs at a Cattlemen's Convention in Albuquerque. (Looks like it is the New Mexico Cattle Grower's Association, now.) Mr. Tubbs helped him set it to music. It started out, "Up on Wiley Mesa where the water runs clear, the cattle are as wild as a black tailed deer. Old Major was up there on old White Foot and struck an old roan cow he thought would do to cook. Major took to her with his rope in his hand, as you all know, he was a carnival hand." The song went on about the cow slipping away and another friend/cowboy found her and continued the chase. Old Major was my uncle, Malcolm Major. The song included Fleck Danley, a family friend, riding Blue Dog, and several others. The last verse says something about my Dad finally finding her, I think he was riding Prince. "Dutch ran her up La Mosca Canyon and be damned if she didn't get away!" I called my sister thinks my Dad didn't write it, could be he adapted and old tale to fit his friends. I don't see any sign of the poem on Google. :) Let me know if you know of a similar verse.

We had a reel to reel tape deck in Bolivia in the seventies, well, we still have it. I used to record 6 hour tapes with all kinds of music. Country, fold, rock, classical, big band, etc. I have never liked just listening to one genre for any length of time. Joanna used to think I was nuts. :) After she got her first CD player that you could put more than one CD into and set it on "random" her ideas changed. Now with an iPod and hundreds or in her case, thousands, of songs, wow!

Did this bring back some "song memories" for you?

You can read more about my Dad on these posts, National day of the Cowboy and Father's Day.