Sunday Singalong with Circlemending: Remembering

Memorial day is upon us. A good time to remember. I'm at a campout with Songmakers and enjoying all sorts of music throughout the weekend. This morning was the traditional "Songs of Meaning" period where songs ranged through everything from remembering family members to religious upbringings to special times, along with some songs people might not have felt were "meaningful," yet held some sort of meaning to the singer. Many were in tears, remembering loved ones, times gone by, and private things they shared only internally. I sang a song I wrote for two 2st cousins, 3 times removed - both children - buried in a cemetery in New York. A guitarist and fiddler teamed to play one of my favorites: "Music Box Dancer" (I love that song and get a happy feeling when I hear it, but could not explain what it is or why it conjures up such good feelings). In a large circle, people held hands to sing "Will the Circle be Unbroken?" while some musicians accompanied from outside the ring. When people join together to sing a song, the feeling is one of unity. We can share those memories through songs.

With Memorial Day less than 24 hours away, what songs bring back memories for you? Certainly, songs that memorialize our military dead are most appropriate, but so are any songs that take you to a time, a person, a place, or an event long (or short) past. Share it here.

Sunday Singalong with Circlemending - Songs about Endings

2 of my amazing grandchildren (FYI, all 24 are amazing, but these 2 have the spotlight today . . .) are graduating with honors from Georgia Tech. This is no easy feat. So while they have much to look forward to (both have been hired for good jobs!! Yay!!), it also marks the ending of 4 years of hard study, some serious play, and a lot of networking on all levels. I am so proud of them! So, in honor of our 2 graduates, Brad & Kati Schmidt, I am proposing that today's Singalong Sunday focus on songs about endings. Endings of childhood, endings of relationships, endings of war, endings of jobs, endings of life, endings of anything. Not all endings are bad, either, as they often mark beginnings. I remember being very happy when my school year was coming to an end and skipped and sang (with many others) all the way home, "School's out, school's out, teachers let the monkeys out!"

So my selection will deal with the end of the Civil War (I'm working hard on this topic for a number of magazines; one to be published a little later this month in GenWeekly - an on-line newsletter - will be an expose on "When Johnny Comes Marching Home"). I figure that is a perfect song about an ending that was bitter sweet (not all Johnnies came home and many who did were forever changed). My GenWeekly article compares the American Johnny at the end of the war to the Irish Johnny, "Johnny I Hardly Knew You," which is decidedly less celebratory.

Check out one version on YouTube. I have also recorded it on my Songs of the War of the Rebellion CD.

Now it's your turn - any songs of endings come to mind?

Where, oh where, has that little blog gone?

I know, I know . . . I have been lax in posting on the blog. Let me explain briefly: On Wednesday I got a phone call to serve as an expert genealogy witness (after all, I am a Board Certified genealogist, and one of very in the Southern Calif. area) in an upcoming trial. As you can well imagine, I have been up to my neck in materials to prepare for this unique experience; so much so that I have not even been able to sing a song or two! (OK, I did sing one on Monday night.) But this should all be behind me in a few days and I hope to get back into the swing of things. I promise that I will continue the NARA Postmaster lists in the weeks ahead, as well as enter some music experiences. Meanwhile, wish me luck (and, yes, I'll tell more about it once this episode of my life is behind me).

And while you're waiting, I have 2 articles that have been published in the latest Family Chronicle: One on doing genealogy with the aid of RV travel and the other on The Engineers of the Civil War. Check them out if you get a chance.