Sing-a-long with the Bell

I had the kind of mother who was always singing.

They say that whatever kids grow up with is what they think is normal because that's all they know. If they grow up with violence, they think that is normal. If they grow up with drama and craziness, they think that is normal. If they grow up with vast riches, surrounded by famous people, they think that's normal. If they grow up with a mother who sings all the time, they think that everyone else's mother is singing too.

Do you know what I have discovered?

Everyone else didn't have a mother who sang all day long.
I think I first learned this when my little childhood best friend
spent the night with me when I first knew her.
I remember clearly waking up in the morning and this little
friend of mine was laying there with big eyes.
"What's that?"she asked.
I looked around. I didn't know what she was talking about.
"What is what?" I asked.
"It sounds like singing."
Oh yeah.
It was singing.
I didn't even hear it.
It was like the hum of the refrigerator: always there.
Mama was probably singing about the breakfast she was making or about the out-of-balance load of laundry that was making a racket in the pantry.....or anything else under the sun. Or else a hymn. Or some other Christian song. She likes the Gaithers.

So fast forward a couple of decades
and here's what happens to someone who grows up with
a mother who is constantly,
every moment of the day singing:
That person will sing constantly.

I did it before I ever had kids, but I think having children makes me do it more. And having a baby like I do now, well, that's just like ramping it up into overdrive. Maybe it's because you have this little person you are with all the time and they can't join in on the conversation, so when you get tired of a one-way chat, you start singing to them.
And this is what I do.
I just saturate these poor children with the sound of my voice
(and I have to say that it might not be a bad idea
because my kids all speak early and very well
and have great vocabularies....and I'm sure it's a direct result
of something I am doing, right?).
Everything becomes a song.

My little brother may be the song writer in the family,
but I have been known to create a tune or two myself.
Most of them have to do with poopy diapers or
taking a bath or being a naked baby.
So there's not a lot of overlap in what he and I sing about.

I have to admit though
that while my lyrics are totally and completely original,
the tunes I set them to are not.
It seems easiest to borrow from old hymns. I don't know if that's because of the familiar, steady rhythms or just because those are songs I have known so long that they are just in my head and a part of me. But it's not always hymns. Every song I ever hear is apt to be used.
From Keith Green to Hank Williams to the Bee Gees.

I found myself singing one to Baby J the other morning
that I think is a re-occurring favorite. It'll be on my greatest hits album. I have probably sung it to all of my children seeing as how they all have used pacifiers--which we call "pap" for some reason. The song there is from a Cheap Trick song.
"If you want your pap, you got it.
If you need your pap, you got it.
I won't hide it. I won't throw your pap away."
Call me and I'll sing it for you over the phone.

Lately I've been singing little baby songs
to the tune of Kings of Leon numbers....and if ever
there were two things you don't want to mix,
that's Kings of Leon and small children.

(They're a rock band---and I find their story
so interesting
because I can really identify with their early life.
They were (3 of them) sons of an evangelist
who traveled around the south preaching.
And then when they were teenagers,
if I have the story right,
their father ran off with another woman,
left the church and his family.
So these boys just went to the total opposite lifestyle
and now they are this famous band who are known
for being the heaviest drinkers in the music scene
....and you can't watch an interview with them
where they aren't cussing....so don't even look them up
if you don't want to hear any of that because
it's not going to be bleeped out anywhere on the Internet.
But they are totally like guys I grew up with
and that just captures my interest.....how they went
from that sheltered, separated lifestyle to
having a bad reputation among rockers.
I find myself praying for one of them in particular
because I think he really struggles with things
because he's turned his back on many things he knows
he should be embracing.
He can't have any peace. You can't have it both ways.
And I think of their mother
(being a mother of 3 boys myself)
and wonder what all of it seems like to her.
I'd love to sit with her and hear her story
....and why am I talking about all of this?)

ANYWAY...
Music....singing....
I'm all for making a joyful noise.
All the time.

I would have a whole big pile of dollars if I had a dollar for every time Lovely K has said to me "Do you have to sing when you fix my hair?" And oh my word, if you don't want me to sing, don't make some negative comment about it---because that's just going to make me sing all the more. It's best to ignore it and it might go away.

I always told this one lovely friend of mine (Hello Turtle!)
that there is a song for every situation in life.
And if you give me a moment,
I'll think of it and sing it for you.

So if you ever need someone to sing your blues away,
come see your old faithful Bell here and I will do my best.
It might be a little pitchy, dawg, but it'll be from the heart.