Heaven and Earth

When I was in high school music class, we learned about singing in rounds. You know, like Row, row, row your boat and Make new friends but keep the old. 

We were introduced to a variety of multicultural rounds, one being a Jewish round, typically sung by children: David melech Yisrael, chai chai vekayam. It is a simple song consisting of only five words. 

The Hebrew translation to English remains simple as well:

            David David (is) king of Israel,
            David David (is) king of Israel
            David (is) king of Israel living and existing.
            Alive, living and existing
            David (is) king of Israel
            Alive, living and existing - king of Israel. 

Another was a German folk song sung in a two-part round. Himmel und erde. Roughly translated, it means something like: Heaven and earth shall pass away, but the music will never die. 

            All things shall perish from under the sky
            Music alone shall live, music alone shall live
            Music alone shall live, never to die.

These little songs stayed in my head until they were drowned out by Wake Up, Little Susie and Love Me Tender. I am very fickle when it comes to music. Basically I love all genres. (That excludes rap which is noise, not music.)

Summertime came and with it, our annual family vacation which consisted of an 8-hour car trip to visit Grandpa and Grandma on their farm in South Dakota.  For Dad it meant solo driving, for Mom it meant previous days of packing for eight. For six squirmy children - not me, of course - it meant a very long car ride crowded in the back of our Rambler station wagon. When boredom set in and the bickering started among my little sisters - all four of them - I decided to teach them these two little songs so we could sing them together in rounds.  

To my surprise, they were not only cooperative but enjoyed the singing and learned the songs quickly. The time in the Rambler passed in a much more pleasant manner.

Fast forward to 1994 as we planned our parents' 50th wedding anniversary dinner. We decided as part of the program, we'd bring back the memory of those long summer trips by singing the two little rounds. We laughed at the recollection of it, Mom and Dad loved it, and we've talked about it since. 

I don't think we will ever get those little folk songs out of our heads. Their memories serve us well.

Almost stars

When I was about 11 or so, my childhood best friend, Kathy Jones, and I decided we had such beautiful singing voices, we would become “professional” singers.

And to launch our careers, we’d go on the "Pinky Lee" show.

Pinky Lee sponsored a weekly Saturday morning children’s amateur talent show on television.  It was a "live" broadcast (as most were, in those days) with many very lively children in the audience.

We chose "Paper of Pins" for our singing debut.  The song calls for a boy to sing the first verse, and the girl to answer.

Kathy took the part of the boy, and I was the girl: 

I'll give to you a paper of pins, For that's the way true love begins,
If you will marry me, miss, If you will marry me.


I won't accept your paper of pins, If that's the way true love begins,
And I'll not marry you, sir, And I'll not marry you.

The song goes on with the boy offering his sweetheart many more treasures, none of which impress her, and she continues to deny him.

Until, finally:  

I'll give to you the key to my heart, That we may love and never part,
If you will marry me, miss, If you will marry me.


Yes, I'll accept the key to your heart, That we may love and never part,
And I will marry you, sir, And I will marry you.

After many hours of practicing by ourselves, we thought it might be beneficial to rehearse in front of other people.  So Mr. Jones sat the entire family in chairs around the living room, and Kathy and I proceeded with our duet.


Her younger brothers and sister, less than enthusiastic, squirmed a bit, but it was Kathy's dad, standing in the back of the living room, heckling and making faces, that halted our singing.

“No, no, you mustn’t stop!" said Mr. Jones, emphatically. "There may be children in the audience who heckle or boo, and you must learn to ignore them and carry on.”

And so we started over again with Mr. Jones intermittently heckling as we proudly made our way through the song without giggling or becoming the least bit discouraged.

We never did follow through to perform on the "Pinky Lee" show. But it always impressed me that Kathy’s father would encourage us and take us seriously.

And who knows? We may have actually become stars.

A new favorite

We sang a hymn in church last Sunday that I had not heard before. Its delightful lyrics and melody have been etched in my mind, and my heart. I've been humming or singing it all week.

It is my new favorite hymn.

So I did a little research, ala Wikipedia, and learned it was written by Jan Struther in 1931.

Jan Struther was the pen name of Joyce Anstruther, (1901–1953), an English writer from Buckinghamshire, England. She died of breast cancer at the early age of 52. Ms. Struther was remembered for her character, Mrs. Miniver, and wrote a number of hymns, such as "Lord of All Hopefulness."

It goes like this:


It is set to the melody of an Irish folksong, from the village of Slane. It is also the melody of another well-known hymn, Be Thou My Vision.

It is a wonderful prayer to begin the day. Or anytime during the day. I just had to share it with you.

Peace and blessings as you go about your day.