Earworms

Earworm

Everyone must have a Jukebox in their head, magically playing songs that have been important soundtracks in life.   These can be musical rhymes from childhood:  “One, two buckle my shoe, three four, shut the door….” or “A B C D E F G….etc…. now I know my ABCs, won’t you come and sing with me!”  Or group camp songs like “Kumbaya” or “Do your ears hang low, can you swing ’em to and fro, can you toss ’em ‘oer your shoulder like a continental soldier…do your ears hang low?”   Even old military types may be humming along in a cadence count or  “Green grow the rushes ‘oh…”

Then there’s the old goodies that drift back through the earworm from romantic escapades of various eras, recalling the first crush, the first kiss…well, everyone gets the idea.   Christmas carols–
“Good King Wenceslas went out…on the Feast of Steven…” Hymns: “A mighty fortress is our god!” or “Amazing Grace…”

Please note: the examples mentioned herein are MY personal choices, at random…with no sponsorship implied.   I just like those hymns and carols because they can be sung loudly and with great spirit.

Anyway…to get to the point (which I usually do, eventually,) there is a particular earworm/song running through my head as I write.  I saw a reference to the singing group Abba, which recorded a song that has a lot of memories for me.

“Do you hear the drums, Fernando? It was long ago and on a starry night like this.  ta da da da da.   We were young and not afraid to die…. for freedom in this land.  I’d do it all again my friend Fernando.  ”   OK…this is a very sketchy version of the lyrics.  [You all know I’m going to look them up now and reproduce them here… :-), right?   I’ll just post a link.] http://www.lyricsfreak.com/a/abba/fernando_20002896.html

In a nutshell, the song is about a couple of  old guys reminiscing about the days when they were young soldiers back in 1847 , fighting against the United States, chatting about the war, idealism and enthusiasm of youth.

The reason this song means so much to me is that my late husband enjoyed it so much that I went searching for a recording of it, and when I found the Abba album I bought it for him for his birthday.  It was amusing because he was NOT a rock-n-roll fan by any stretch of the imagination.   (OK…I know, Abba is not what I call “rock” although it was infinitely better than  elevator-music and certainly not Glenn Miller-like. )*

That album included such other Abba hits like “Tina, Pretty Ballerina…”  [Good grief…I hope “Tina” earworm doesn’t replace “Fernando” in my head.]

Anyway.  Whenever I hear “Fernando”…or read about it, or see Abba…it always melts my knees and sends my heart throbbing–and singing, humming, tapping….

• When Bob and I were married, we struck a compromise–well, several compromises–he did not want a TV in the living room, and I did not want Big Band and Golden Hits playing incessantly…and he objected to the likes of the Credence Clearwater Revival, or anything even vaguely connected to R&R.     So we agreed on classical music (Beethoven, etc., not Beatles,) and I listened to Stevie Nicks on my headphones.  The kids had TV downstairs….