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Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Hey there, ABC!


The good news is that the Air Conditioning / Heating Unit at Llangollen, our wee cottage on Rehoboth Beach, has been temporarily fixed. The new unit will go in on Monday. I just pray that 'the fix' will hold until then.

As soon as the call came, I packed my bags and booked it out!

I'm here now (Woo hoo!), relaxing before I do my nightly ablutions, say my prayers and hit the sack. We're meeting up with Muthah+ tomorrow who's also here in RB, fixin' to have us some sea food and fresh corn on the cob and tellin' lotsa stories.

Lucy True Bug, my new VW, has free satellite radio for 6 months. I was really enjoying the various stations on the ride down - Channel 5 has the music of the 50s, Channel 6 has the 60s, Channel 7 . . . well, you get it.

While I was listening to Channel 6, I heard this song, "Hey there, Georgy Girl" and had a flashback.

It was the early 70s. I was a newbie nurse, and a very newbie Mom, working as a camp nurse at a Roman Catholic Summer Camp. The counselors were all seminarians.

I will never forget the "talk" we all got at the start of the season. "Father" got up in front of us and said, "There will be no sexual activity at the Camp - hetero, homo or auto."

I remember giggling and asking one of the fresh-faced seminarians, "Does he mean no sex IN a car or WITH a car?" We couldn't stop giggling, even under "Father's" wilting glares.

That sealed our relationship. There were half dozen or so seminarians who were sillier than absolutely necessary. Every evening, after everyone was in bed, including my new baby, we would hang out together. We would sing. We would laugh. Occasionally, I would sneak in some beer and we would talk late into the night.

One of the songs I remember them singing with great gusto was "Georgy Girl," except they sang it to "Mother Church."

As I listened to it again, all these many years later, I realized their brilliance. I also realized that it's the song I want to sing to 3+Rowan Williams.

So, as I head off to bed, here's my little ditty to the ABC - my wee lullaby to Rowan Williams.


Hey There, ABC

(With apologies to authors Jim Dale and Musician by Tom Springfield)

Hey there, ABC
Swingin' down the street so fancy-free
Nobody you meet could ever see the loneliness there - inside you
Hey there, ABC
Why do all the boys just pass you by?
Could it be you just don't try or is it the clothes you wear?

You're always window shopping but never stopping to buy
So shed those dowdy feathers and fly - a little bit

Hey there, ABC
There's another Rowan deep inside
Bring out all the love you hide and, oh, what a change there'd be
The world would see a new ABC

[Instrumental Interlude]

Hey there, ABC
Dreamin o'f the someone you could be
Life is a reality, you can't always run away
Don't be so scared of changing and rearranging yourself
It's time for jumping down from the shelf - a little bit

Hey there, ABC
There's another Rowan deep inside
Bring out all the love you hide and, oh, what a change there'd be
The world would see a new ABC

(Hey there, ABC)
Wake up, ABC
(Hey there, ABC)
Come on, ABC

[Fade]

(Hey there, ABC)
Wake up, ABC

6 comments:

Kirkepiscatoid said...

Oh, my. I'm going to get to show off what a young pup I am.

That song hit the airwaves in 1965. It was one of the songs that, as a precocious five year old, I knew the entire lyrics and often was asked to sing along with the record in the presence of grownups. I also did a very mean "I wanna hold your hand", BTW.

I don't remember if you knew my late grandpa ran a route of jukeboxes and other coin-operated machines like pinballs, coin-op pool tables, and, later, video games.

As a result, I never listened to a single "childhood record." But I listened to everything from 1940's stuff to what is now "classic rock" growing up.

I got put in the corner in kindergarten when it was my turn to "teach the class a song." I taught them, "If you've got the money, honey, I've got the time."

Kay & Sarah said...

Wow, does this song bring back old memories. How about a young man fresh from the US sitting with other soldiers in a small stand of seats with as outside movie screen. A movie screen at First Cav. Div Base Camp, An Khe, Vietnam watching a new release that used that song as a main theme.

Kay & Sarah said...

I loved the revised version.....and the old. It took me back a few years.

BTW, I did not know you are a nurse. Me too.

Have a great vacation!!

Bill said...

When I was a boy, we didn't have air-conditioning in the apartments. If we were exceptionally luck, we had fans. I remember sleeping at night with my head out the window (no joke). If you wanted to sample air-conditioning, you would go to the movies and not all of them had air-conditioning. Everybody is getting soft.

Kirkepiscatoid said...

Bill...we didn't have A/C until I was 12 years old, in those wicked "100 x 2" Missouri summers 100 degrees; 100 percent humidity. I also went to the movies to get cool in the summer...and the pool!

About twelve years ago I was without A/C all summer when I was remodeling 3 rooms of my house. Everyone thought I was psychotic. It was a summer with awful drought and many 100 degree days. But I amazed myself at how quickly I remembered all the old tricks...running the ceiling and window fans at night, then shutting up the house and curtains tight in the morning; sleeping under a damp sheet; putting a 50 lb. ice block in a metal tray in front of the fan.

There were only five nights I was truly miserable. Only "mildly uncomfortable" most nights. I learned to rediscover the porch and give thanks to the breeze. I lost 15 lbs without a single extra bit of exercise. It was not bad at all!

Elizabeth Kaeton said...

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Bill and Kirke. Well, you know what? It's all about the dominant paradigm, isn't it? There was no AC when I was a kid. No central heat, either. I never remember being cold in the winter, but I do remember being uncomfortably hot in the summer. Enough to have to move out onto the "rain porch" to sleep - and even then . . .no real sleep. Which was okay when you were 10 and it was summer and there was no school in the morning. . . .

And, it was Massachusetts. For you, Bill, it was Da Bronx. Gimme a break. That ain't no way Delaware in August.

I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.