Seasons in the Sun

We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun.
But the wine and the song,
like the seasons, all have gone.
-- Terry Jacks

This is an old song, and kind of a depressing one - about someone who's dying. But it popped into my head today, of all things because I saw my cat stretched out in the sun. The morning sun was streaming in the patio doors and he was long and sleek and black, soaking it all in. And the phrase "seasons in the sun" came to mind. Songs, or parts of songs, or lyrics, or melodies, are always in my head. I guess that explains in part why my blog is built around songs.

Sometimes a melody will come to mind and I make up my own words. When my girls were little, I did that all the time--make up my own lyrics and would sing little things to them. And then again, I sang all the dumb childhood songs to them I grew up with, playground songs and camp songs and nursery rhymes, and other little ditties. It was the playground songs that got me in trouble with my husband. One time the Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts song came to mind. And my husband wanted to know what was the point of home schooling the girls if I was going to teach them all the "playground trash" we were supposedly protecting them from? I just saw it as part of being a kid.

Then there were what I called the "camp songs". Ones like Little Rabbit Foo Foo. I'd forgotten all about that one til my cousin found it online and posted it on Facebook. I learned that from my cousins and we used to sing it at my grandmas. That, and Adellena Madellena. Then just this month I was telling people at work about the song, I Wish I Was a Little Bar of Soap. They thought I was making it up til they googled it. People tend to think I'm making things up a lot - which I do just for the fun of it - but I don't usually make up entire songs. I learned a ton of them though, when I worked at Camp Tamarack. And I've forgotten most of them until some event or conversation will trigger the memory and the song will come back to me. I can understand why music therapy can be so powerful for some people. The one I learned at camp that I love the best is the round...Hey Ho, Nobody Home. It's a beautiful melody and kind of haunting when it's sung with Rose Red.