Barbara J. Hamby

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A Different Sort of Hummer

It’s probably been about sixty years now that I’ve had song lyrics running through my head a lot of the time. I knew most of the words to the Top 40 (My Hit Parade hits) in the 1940’s. Most of them I still remember. I remember a lot of the hymns and some of the cantatas we sang in church choir when I was in high school.

The number of lyrics I carry around from later years is considerably less. The folk singing group we attend sporadically has exposed me to songs from the sixties. Songs that have been written in recent years have to be hummable and have fairly catchy lyrics to stick in my much older brain. “Wind Beneath My Wings” is one that comes to mind.

What often baffles me is that I will realize I?’ humming or singing a song with words that relate to something I’ve been thinking about or reading. The last few weeks I’ve been corresponding with a group of writers, many of whom write romance novels. After reading a big batch of their emails this morning, I got into the shower humming
“Once Upon a Time,” and I laughed when I realized what the song was.

Some tunes seem to stick with me longer than others. If I hear “Good Night Irene,?"or “My Shoes Keep Walkin? Back to You,” or one of several other very catchy tunes, it takes a long time to get them out of my head. I took a Greyhound bus trip from Seattle to Houston and back in 1950 and heard “Good Night Irene” everywhere we stopped. “Yellow Ribbon” is another sticky tune.

Most of the time I?’ not aware that I’m humming. I was riding to the Coast with a man I was dating many years ago, when he suddenly shouted, “Stop that G-D--- humming. Even if I’d realized I was doing it, I’d have thought the noise of his pickup would drown me out.

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Al cut the grass for the first time this year today, February 1st. I wasn’t surprised, because our weather has been fantastic for this time of year. We’re not getting enough rain or snow for the summer water supply, but I do love the sun. An Arizona sunset strayed our way this evening and reddened a huge hunk of sky.