About Me

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Lake Mathews (Perris), CA, United States
Born in Illinois, I grew up in Wilmette, a northern suburb of Chicago. I have one sibling, an older brother. I am married, for the 2nd time now, to Butch & got 4 children in the deal. They have gone on to make me grandmother 25 times over & great-grandmother to over 20!. After many years working in industry, I got my bachelors and masters degrees in speech communication, & was a professor in that field for 13 years. I retired in 2001 & returned to school & got my doctorate in folklore. Now I meld my two interests - folklore & genealogy - & add my teaching background, resulting in my current profession: speaker/author/entertainer of genealogically-related topics. I play many folk instruments, but my preference is guitar, which I have been playing since 1963. I write the "Aunty Jeff" column for the Informer, newsletter of the Jefferson County NY Gen. Soc. I work in partnership with Gena Philibert-Ortega & Sara Cochran as Genealogy Journeys® where we focus on educating folks about Social History. More about that: genaandjean.blogspot.com. More on our podcasts: genjourneys.podbean.com. More about my own projects: Circlemending.org.

Sunday, October 29, 2023

Sunday Singalong - On a Sunday! Who'd-a thought?

 Yes, it has been awhile.

But I have an excuse.

So, on Sept. 18 I had my knee replaced. Now, that was 58 years after the initial injury! I looked it up in my mother's diaries (another time I am thankful for that reference material) and discovered that, while I was incorrect in the diagnosis "I heard" from the doctor so long ago, I was correct in the basic injury. And I'm surprised that the problem didn't surface in this manner until 5+ decades later. The human body, and, more specifically, mine, never ceases to amaze me! 

That brings to mind, no surprise, I know, a song! Of course, the one most of us learned as children, about the bones all connecting, is the first to pop into my heard, largely because when the knee started to really cause me trouble, other body parts started to be affected (most logically, the knee and hip of my right, the non-injured, leg . . . it was taking on additional responsibility since I couldn't really put weight on the left leg). So I looked it up. I'd forgotten the filler, I mean, the entire inspiration for the song (Ezekial's proclamation about the resurrection and the bones becoming "alive" again, conjuring up images of dancing skeletons - appropos for this time of year, being just 3 days from Hallowe'en). So, do you remember the song (beyond the skeletal connections)? check it out!

Wikipedia, "Dem Bones,"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dem_Bones

Want to hear it? So many versions to come up with! Let's check out this one, by one of my most favorite groups: Alvin & the Chipmunks!

OK, that's what might be called "sanitized," though that's not exactly what one might think of when considering dancing skepetons. Let's look at the "original" version (not by author, but not PC version, for sure, thought it might give some readers a sort of flash back): Delta Rhythm Boys on the Ed Sullivan Show 9 November 1952 (soon after Hallowe'en?). OK, we wouldn't be able to find that on TV done in 2021, but it may take us to some memories (not all great, probably). And that link will take you to others. Such as this one by Cathedrals Quartet, singing it as "Dry Bones." I love those harmonies. It was posted in 2008 and the quality tells me it was not all that old at the time (they gave their last public performance in 1999), so it's more recent and closest to the original for that version. And it gave me a new appreciation for an old song. Not a bad thing to take my mind off of my knee bone (including the one made of titanium).

Happy Hallowe'en!




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