Song Memory: How Great Thou Art

This is an old hymn, and it has great significance for me. I don't recall being familiar with this old hymn, well known as it may be, during my Catholic upbringing. I came to know it later on, during my spiritual awakening in adulthood. I have mentioned before how during my formative period as a 'new convert' I had gladly and willingly eschewed my former worldly musical tastes and replaced them with listening to only Christian music and hymns. I found it necessary to do so for many years, as the layers of my old life and habits were being peeled away and being replaced with a renewed heart and mind. I believe God asks this for many of His followers, it's just a time when we have to draw close and focus on Him and leave our past behind us. Music was a big part of my life, and so I needed a break from the secular and worldly aspects of it for awhile.

My earliest recollection of this song is when I heard the character Julia, played by Dixie Carter, sing it (here) on the TV show Designing Women. I was watching a rerun of the show during one of those middle-of-the-night baby feeding sessions. (Sometimes I liked it silent and peaceful and sometimes I needed a little distraction.)

Later on, and during my short jaunt in another state, this song was on a cassette tape by some local or regional Southern Gospel group that played at my church. (I have another artist's version here.) At that time we lived in a small, rented farmhouse in a rural area of a wild, wonderful state. I had only one little child then, and we went on daily walks and hikes through country roads, fields and the mountainous wooded areas. There were rocky cliffs, and even a nice sized waterfall within hiking distance. In my mind I can still see the lushness of spring, appearing wet and minty green after a cold, barren winter. In the late spring and early summer the orange daylilies were bursting onto the side of the road. Later on came the vivid autumn leaves, with their palette of my favorite colors, browns, golden yellow, burnt orange and deep scarlet red. Place that against a blue sky and the beauty is amazing. I often sang quite audibly on our hikes, I am just that kind of person, and I heard it clears the bears. It was living there, hiking there and driving on those country roads that the words of this song came gloriously alive for me. That song was exactly the picture of my life then. I was a bit solitary, with just a small child as my companion, wandering through the woods, hearing the brooks, pondering the greatness of God and the beauty of the creation He made, and really falling in love with Him.





photos byJeffery(lily)
b3nscott(barn)
respres(stream)

Song Memory, then off on a tangent...Nature Boy

I was thinking about a loved one who has had a long and difficult struggle with substance abuse, and now, mental health issues. There is a song that will occasionally remind me of this person, and it's called Nature Boy. (Actually there are a few songs, but for today, it's this one.) As a little girl I recall my father listening to Nat King Cole's beautifully somber version (see here). While I was looking up the song online I discovered something I didn't know. The song was written by Eden Ahbez, who was quite a fascinating character. The song is incredible and has become a standard covered by a variety of artists.

Song Memory: Sunshine On My Shoulders

I think I am going to blog occasionally about something I'll call song memory. I know much has been written about sense memory and even scent memory. That would be the concepts of how our own senses and emotional responses are linked to the circumstances of certain memories. For example, the smells of certain things, trigger in us the remembrance of a certain person, place or time. Sometimes songs do that for me. Music profoundly affects me, and I know that to be true for many folks.



I associate Sunshine on My Shoulders by John Denver with a distinct day from my childhood. Every time I hear it, my first response is that I recall a little fragment of an actual of a day in my life. I am about 7 or 8 and with my oldest dearest friend, J. We are in rural Pennsylvania, walking down a narrow, slightly overgrown woodsy path that runs alongside a small lake. Sunlight is glistening on the water and on the leaves of the trees and shrubs. The path leads to a small dam, and being brave and young we always have to walk across it. It takes a bit of fearlessness and balance. J. is so much more coordinated than I am, she leads even though she's younger than me. It was a great way to spend a summer.