Mom loves hymns. She has always sung when she was in a good mood. We used to sing duets in church and she participated in Mountain Voices and other groups I conduct. She was a wonderful, faithful choir member in church choirs for over 50 years.
I remember being a small child and swinging with her on the porch swing. She’d sing “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” with all the verses. I thought she’d made it up like so many of the daily songs she’d sing. I think I was in college before I realized that was a spiritual from long before her time.
She loves her secular songs, too. She sings “A Bushel and A Peck” or “You are My Sunshine.” In the past year she’s been stuck on “You’ve got to Be Carefully Taught” from The King and I. The lyrics are terrible; I’ve never liked the song. Mom, however, rewrote the words. In the musical, these are the lyrics:
You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
Mom changed “hate” to “love.” It doesn’t rhyme as well, but it does make the song much better.
She’s always been one for changing the lyrics to fit the time, space, and mood. I tend to launch into song the same way. I think my children roll their eyes the same way I used to at Mom. While buckling seatbelts to go on a road trip, I’d start “On the Road Again.” When the sun is peeking through the clouds after a rain shower, I’d sing “Here Comes the Sun.” The list is enormous and she knew a song for every occasion, too.
These days it’s mostly hymns. We play CDs of instrumental or choral arrangements and she sings along. She loves “A Mighty Fortress” although she doesn’t know all the verses by heart. She does know every word to “How Great Thou Art” and “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” If she forgets the words, she’ll hum or whistle or makeup nonsense syllables. Listening keeps her happily entertained for hours.
When I ask Mom what her favorite hymns are, she has an extensive list. “Great is Thy Faithfulness” is her very favorite. (Listen to a lovely piano arrangement of it here.) “Holy, Holy, Holy” and “All Hail the Pow’r of Jesus’ Name” also made the list right off the top of her head. While we’re listening to CDs, she exclaims how the one playing is a favorite hymn. I can’t really choose just one favorite either.
I’m grateful for a childhood spent in church so that those lyrics are embedded in my soul. After a lifetime of singing in choirs and church, they are embedded in hers, too.
