Monday, October 29, 2007

And Hank Williams sang it first...

Wow, what a great Sunday I had. My kids were all with us and my beautiful granddaughter, Arianna brought her frog loving Grandma a Frog Prince in red velvet carrying a sweet pink posey. Everywhere you look you will find frogs...I have loved them always and for some odd reason, so does Arianna. I mean we love real frogs, and their replicas. My baby boy (who towers over all of us) had a birthday on the 25th of October. I baked him a devils food cake. His brother, who's birthday was September 24, you remember, got an Angel Food cake. Not because he is an angel, but he's watching his fat intake. I baked a Macaroni and Cheese, cooked some frenched green beans and we all sat and talked about what was going on in their lives. Arianna told me that she had joined Chorus in school (she's a third grader). I told her how happy I was that she had. I was in Chorus, Glee Club and Chorale...I have a passable voice (my family always told me it was beautiful, but families can be biased as is evidenced by the thousands of simply awful singers who try out for American Idol and are then shocked that someone thinks they have no talent). Arianna carries a tune quite nicely and she told me that they were singing for a school event today (Monday). I asked her what they were singing and she broke out in song...it was "Hey Good Lookin' ", a Hank Williams standard. I burst out laughing because other than Johnny Cash (whom she adores) the child does not listen to anything but pop and rock and roll. I think she even listens to some Salsa Music, but not bone hard Country, not C/W or what passes for Country Music today, I'm talking the twanging, singing through your nose, autoharp plinking, guitar plucking fiddle playing country blue grass music. It was the very music I grew up on before the Beatles stole my heart. Music that I can listen to now, and become my granddaddy's little girl again. If anyone is familiar with the movie "Brother Where Art Thou", here's an example. My mother used to tell me that I was only about 2 years old and could sing "He's in the Jailhouse Now" word for word while standing in my crib. My other rendition at about that age was "I didn't know the Gun was Loaded". Maybe I was predicting my future career, even then. So here's my darling little blond headed baby girl singing out on "Hey Good Lookin ". I laughed and told her her Grandpa always came in from work or called me long distance when whatever ship he was on was overseas and asked me that very question. Every single time. One of the girls opted that all she heard was "when's supper ready?" Where did I go wrong on those two? So, I told Arianna I had the song on a cd by Hank Williams and did she want to hear it after dinner and sing with it? Of course she did. We finished dinner, cleared the table and she gave us her version of Bill Cosby's "Mom is Great"..."Grandma's great, gave us Choclate Cake"...After we had birthday cake I went into the office and began the search for the cd. After about a half hour, having located it, I loaded the cd into the computer and called her in. She stood hanging on my arm as Hank, that velvet smoothe nasal intonation shouting out the words "heyyyyy good lookin', what you got cookin', how's about cookin' something up with me? " She looked at me with a look akin to shock on her face. "Grandma, that's country!" she said. I had to laugh, because yes, it was certainly country, the kind of country that every little child living and breathing should hear at least once in their lives, so they can hear where most of our country music today came from. I was delighted that not only did she sing with Hank, she enjoyed doing it.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is so sweet.I bet she does a great job. I love old country. Coming from a family that plays and sings I have heard dad sing so many of the oldies. I wanted to tell you Im sorry about Joey. I was gone and came home to find out. I hurt so for the family.

Sandi @the WhistleStop Cafe said...

You don't get much better than that.
I find it hard to believe that 'Junior' is getting so old... how did that happen?

Penny from Enjoying The Simple Things said...

LOL! How fun.....I love Country....grew up with it. That and Broadway musicals...Funny combination I know. Sadly, I can't carry a tune in a bucket! But that doesn't stop me from singing...:-)

Thank you for visiting my blog and saying such nice things about my mosaics!
Penny

kari and kijsa said...

LOL- We ahve now decided the best way to start out any conversation is with a little "hey good lookin!"
Cute!

blessings,
kari & kijsa

Justabeachkat said...

Oh, I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall. What a cute/sweet story and a memory for you and her about the day you discovered your love for the same song. Now, it's in my head and I'll be humming it until I (finally) make myself go to bed.

Hugs!
Kat
(I liked to have heard her to the Cosby song about the cake too...LOL)

Abbie said...

That's just too sweet. I have to admit, I'm more into "what we call country music today" so Hank Williams is new for me.
You guys sound like you had waaay too much fun. The type of fun that's worth having.

Anonymous said...

Hi Sandi, oh gosh, you have such a way with words, we LOVED your post! We felt like we were there with you, and we love macaroni and chese and beans!! LOL What a gorgeous story, and precious time as well! Jenn and Jacqui

Terri Steffes said...

wow! That is sooo cool. I love that song, too!

Tammy said...

OK...so now I've got that song stuck in my head....

Have a great day "good lookin"!!

Susie Q said...

Oh how sweet...I love old Hank songs. Now, how did Hank Jr. get to be as old as he is? Does this mean *I* am getting old? Nah, that can not be!
My southern relatives made sure I knew all the old country songs! And I still listen to country now.
"Hey good lookin'" Aunt Sandi! Have a sweet day now!

Love and hugs,
Sue