My Dad Joe turns 95 on June 10th. This post is in honor of his singing at least as it pertains to me.
I don’t remember much about “the old house”. I was five when we moved. I do remember the madrona tree had neat bark that was fun to peel off. And the raspberries were over my head. (I was small then) And we had a swing set in the backyard.
John in Backyard at 7154
Dad would push us on the swingset and sing about an old raccoon by the light of the moon. And he would sing about playmates sliding down cellar doors.
I don’t remember much about the inside of the house at all, but I do remember Dad tucking me in at night and singing about swinging on a star and would I like to be a fish? And at Christmas, he would sing “Up on a House Top” Reindeer paws–I thought reindeer had hooves?
Jumping to the new house in Seahurst in the 60’s, I followed in my older brothers’ footsteps by taking up the accordion when I was about nine. Dad always appreciated and sang along to Santa Lucia and O Solo Mio. Another one of his favorites that I used to play on the accordion was “Whispering Hope”. I tried singing that one at his 90th birthday party with limited success. Should have practiced.
And of course, there was always Choir and Mass and Dad and I had our favorites. For me, it was always around Easter when the Hallelujahs were out and about. “Hallelujah, The Strife is O’er”.
I use to visit Mom and Dad Tuesday nights over several years when I commuted to San Juan on the Weekends. Sometimes we’d have a sing-a-long. Camp songs were always good. Dad knew a lot of camp songs from his Boy Scout Master years. And I had logged several years of Summer Camp. Mom had some particular favorites too, so I learned “One Day at a Time” and “I’ll Fly Away”. That had an Hallelujah in it as well.
In 2010 I went to Sicily with Dad to visit some cousins. They arranged a special dinner for us and my brother Joe and his wife Cheryl. They even hired an accordionist for the occasion. And the competition was on! They’d sing a song–maybe “Volare” and then Dad would sing a song and they’d respond with a different tune. This went on for a LONG time. I think Dad won.
Now Dad is singing all the time. He sings at church and he sings at the YMCA water aerobics and he sings –well pretty much at the drop of a hat. He’ll have another opportunity in a few weeks when we celebrate his birthday at the Bath House on Alki Point.
Thornbush Report 