Musical Memories

One of the funny things that has happened since becoming a parent is that my parents have felt free to tell me all their memories of when I was a baby. I have enjoyed hearing these stories although I find it a challenge to think of myself as a little baby--looking at Leah it seems impossible to think that I was once at her stage of development, was once her size.

One of the things that is apparently legend from my young days is my love of a John Denver song called "On the Road". My parents both sing the line "Go home, said the Man in the Moon, go home!" as if to jog some latent memory I might have of this song. Apparently it used to put me to sleep with some regularity. I have no memory of it.

However, something about John Denver must have stuck because to this day I like his gentle music and find it very soothing when I'm in a certain frame of mind. I play it for Leah once in a while and she seems to enjoy it too. Her particular favorite song, however, is "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" which is no doubt due to my passionate "WOO! THANK GOD I'M A COUNTRY BOY!" shout at the appropriate moment. Seriously, this sends her into fits of laughter. I joke that my daughter will probably be the one African-American woman in the country to love John Denver, but so be it.

Tonight I was cleaning the house and for some reason started thinking about this song and wondering what it was about and if my brain would remember it if I heard it again. Since it's not one of John Denver's most well known tunes, I googled the one line I've been sung over and over again. I found the title and went on Amazon and found the song and downloaded it.

Ok, that line? It's sung exactly 3 times during the entire song, which I had somehow fantasized was something about the actual man-in-the-moon, maybe the song was about a fairy tale type of thing, I dunno. In fact, it's not, it's about a wandering family and the impressionable young son who's on a trip with his dad.

It didn't jog anything in my brain, although I will say, my parents sing the line with great precision, just the way John Denver sings it. I think I'll be attached to it for sentimental reasons and it's nice to hear it. I look forward to playing it for Leah tomorrow.

Back in 1958, we drove an old V-8.
And when it gone a hundred 'thou, we got out and pushed it a mile.
We didn't know who we were, we didn't know what we did, we were just on the road.

Heading down from Canada on a gravel road a mile from Montana,
then my Daddy read a sign and took us in the wrong direction.
I asked my Daddy, where are we going? He said we'll just follow our nose.
So I looked out the window and dreamed I was a cowboy.
We didn't know who we were, we didn't know what we did, we were just on the road.

Met a girl in a truck cafe, fell in love almost right away,
then the Mercury was ready to go, and I had to leave her.
Shooby dooby doo sha doo, shooby dooby doo sha doo, shoo doo.

Go home, said the man in the moon, go home.
Go home, said the man in the moon, go home.
Because it's getting sort of late, and I'll soon turn out my light.
Go home, said the man in the moon, go home.
We didn't know who we were, we didn't know what we did, we were just on the road.
We didn't know who we were, we didn't know what we did, we were just on the road.