INTRODUCTION - Singing through the decades
I decided to split my life mostly into decades for the purpose of this blog, (it's quite handy having been born in a year ending in zero, for the decades correspond to decades of my life!) to give a flavour of what was going on for me musically in each time period. For this section of the blog I will concentrate on songs I have learnt to sing, in whatever context .... since recorded music that I listened to has its own place in other posts (such as my recent 'Desert Island Discs' post) In every decade of my life I have learnt new songs, in various contexts, that are forever defined in my memory by the setting in which I first learnt them. These are songs that can transport me instantly to a particular time and place.
For each decade I have tried to come up with a selection of songs representing different aspects of my life in those times .... so one example only from each source.
1960s
1. Sunday School
I started Sunday School at age 3. So this represents my first exposure to songs outside the home environment that were aimed specifically at my age group. This is one of the earliest I recall learning.
I am H-A-P-P-Y
I am H-A-P-P-Y
I know I am, I'm sure I am
I'm H-A-P-P-Y
2. 'Morning Meeting'.
From an early age I was taken along with my parents every Sunday morning to the Brethren 'Gospel Hall' where they worshipped. The Open Brethren did not have any planned Order of Service, and no musical instruments to accompany the singing in the Morning Meeting. We used 'The Believers Hymn Book' and my father was the 'precentor' who chose the tune, pitched it, and started everybody singing. People sang in harmony in spite of having words-only copies of the hymn book (and there were no set tunes for most hymns anyway, these could vary depending on how many other hymns with the same meter had been sung already that day) I guess this was where my love of singing in harmony, and the ease with which I can do it without music, may have originated!
This is a hymn I learnt in that context that I have rarely encountered since then, and when I do, it takes me straight back to those Sunday mornings, sitting in silence on a hard wooden chair, waiting for somebody to speak or pray or announce a hymn
3. Family parties
Every Christmas the extended family (on my father's side) got together on successive days for what we called a 'party' ... these were actually quite sober affairs but always with games. And one of the games involved a song... and a curtain ring on a big loop of string that was passed around secretly with one person in the centre trying to locate it. It was called 'Paddy to London' Google knows nothing of this song/game, although it clearly has a similar origin to this one with slightly different words and a completely different tune. So here is my recreation of the Bailey family version
4. Grandma
Thinking of family parties, brings me on to my paternal grandmother, who sang around the house as she worked. This is the song I associate with her, that I have never encountered elsewhere since. I do recall the words she sang being slightly different though; where this version has 'turn turn your back from doubting' I seem to recall that Grandma used to sing something like 'Leave all your cares behind you' ....can any other family members confirm this?
5. School Assembly
The hymns we sang in Assembly at Primary School were an almost entirely different set to one those I knew from 'The Hall' (which was how we normally referred to our place of worship). And many were ones that I haven't encountered since, such as 'Daisies are our silver', 'When a knight won his spurs' and 'Come let us remember the joys of the town'. I think they came from the BBC Hymn book for schools ... but I cannot find one online that looks familiar. The one I have chose to represent school assembly has a lively tune and retells a Bible story from The Old Testament
6. School Playground
Here is perhaps the first item on this page that is more widely known among the general population. Singing games in the playground were popular and this one came with a complicated set of actions, linking hands and twisting the chain thus formed. I wonder if the origins of this song refer to a ship that first sailed (or sank) on that particular date? The song came back to me in 1978 when parts of it featured in the hit song by Brian and Michael about the painter Lowry (Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs)
The Big Ship Sails on the Alley alley O
7. School Choir
I have been singing in choirs for most of my life. The first was at Primary school where we were taught by our very musical Welsh Headmaster. We sang folk songs from around the world (including some in other languages), also songs from contemporary films like 'The Sound of Music' and 'Mary Poppins'. One of the foreign songs that stuck in my mind, that I haven't heard much of since, was an Israeli folk song called Hava Nagila
8. Children's Corner
On Wednesday evenings at 6.30pm we were back at 'The Hall' again (along with the neighbours' children) for a children's meeting with songs, quizzes, Bible stories and a 'Pilgrim's Progress' filmstrip serial (state of the art technology for those days!) introduced by dramatic music from 2001 Space Odyssey (Strauss). The songs we sang here were different ones to Sunday School, and some, such as this one, were unintelligible to me as a young girl because of the language, but has nevertheless stuck in my mind even though I haven't heard or sung it since. I still don't really understand the use of the word 'portion' in this song! Google doesn't seem to know about this song, so I will have to sing it for you!
6.30 on Sunday Evening was the Gospel meeting, very different in character from the morning meeting - for example everyone sat facing the front in rows, there was a pulpit in use, an order of service planned in advance, an electronic organ (played by my uncle) and a different Hymn Book. In my later memories of the Gospel Hall the book was 'Hymns of Faith' (Scripture Union) but in the 1960s it was possibly 'Sankeys' (Sacred Songs and Solos). This is a hymn that I will always associate with that meeting (even though it is not uncommon for me to sing it in more recent times) because my uncle always played it 'wrong' in the rhythm of the first bar.
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