© Copyright 2013 PJ Stassen
All Rights Reserved
Grief fills the room up of my absent child,
Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me,
Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words.
- William Shakespeare, 1564-1616 (Constance, King John).
I think most of my generation (the so-called ‘baby boomers’) can still
recall this song with great relish and many fond memories. I was in high school in 1961 in Johannesburg
(South Africa) when it hit the radio and it stayed on the charts for many, many
weeks. The next year (1962) I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Saviour
at the wonderfully ‘mature’ age of fourteen, and the great (fantastical) coincidence
and irony is that, whereas Bill Anderson, with this song, used to reminisce with
incurable nostalgia in 1961 over his Mama singing a song during
the hard times of his childhood, we today in turn reminisce with incurable nostalgia over Bill Anderson’s
song Mama Sang A Song … it has become
a self-perpetuating second-generation icon of cultural-gospel nostalgia.
(Bill
Anderson, b.1937/Bill Anderson/© '61 Moss Rose Publications)
(God put a song in the heart of an angel and
softly she sang it to me)
I get to thinking lots of times about back when I was a lad;
Of the old home place where I grew up, of the days both good and bad.
My overalls were hand-me-downs, my shoes were full of holes.
I used to walk four miles to school everyday … through the rain the sleet and the cold.
I've seen the nights when my Daddy would cry for the things that his family would need;
But all he ever got was a badland farm and seven hungry mouths to feed.
And yet, our home fire never flickered once cause when all these things went wrong,
Mama took the hymnbook down and Mama sang a song.
(What A Friend We Have In Jesus).
I get to thinking lots of times about back when I was a lad;
Of the old home place where I grew up, of the days both good and bad.
My overalls were hand-me-downs, my shoes were full of holes.
I used to walk four miles to school everyday … through the rain the sleet and the cold.
I've seen the nights when my Daddy would cry for the things that his family would need;
But all he ever got was a badland farm and seven hungry mouths to feed.
And yet, our home fire never flickered once cause when all these things went wrong,
Mama took the hymnbook down and Mama sang a song.
(What A Friend We Have In Jesus).
I've been rocked
to sleep many a night to the tune of What
A Friend,
And come morning, Rock Of Ages would wake me gently once again.
And when Daddy would reach up and he'd take the Bible down,
He'd read it loud and long.
And I always felt that maybe our house was blessed,
When Daddy would say, "Mama, sing a song!"
Sister left home first I guess, and then Bob and then Tommy and then Dan;
By then Dad's hair was turning white … and I had to be Mama's little man.
But it seemed that, as Daddy's back grew weak, my Mother's faith just grew strong.
And those were the greatest days of all … when Mama sang a song.
(Rock of Ages, cleft for me … let me hide myself in Thee!).
And come morning, Rock Of Ages would wake me gently once again.
And when Daddy would reach up and he'd take the Bible down,
He'd read it loud and long.
And I always felt that maybe our house was blessed,
When Daddy would say, "Mama, sing a song!"
Sister left home first I guess, and then Bob and then Tommy and then Dan;
By then Dad's hair was turning white … and I had to be Mama's little man.
But it seemed that, as Daddy's back grew weak, my Mother's faith just grew strong.
And those were the greatest days of all … when Mama sang a song.
(Rock of Ages, cleft for me … let me hide myself in Thee!).
I guess the
house is still standing; I don't get to go back much anymore.
No
voice is left to fill those halls, and no steps to grace the floor.
For you see, my Mother sings in Heaven now, around God's golden throne,
But I'll always believe that this world is a better place,
Because one time ... my Mama sang a song.
For you see, my Mother sings in Heaven now, around God's golden throne,
But I'll always believe that this world is a better place,
Because one time ... my Mama sang a song.
(Precious
Memories)
Piet
Stassen
eLiterature/eLiteratuur:
- Scribd Publishing Site: www.scribd.com/PietStassen (ENGLISH & AFRIKAANS)
- eBook: 'Evolution: The Science That Evolved Into A Fairy Tale' (ENGLISH)
- eBook: 'Bertrand Russell Revisited: Rebuttal Of Bertrand Russell's 'Why I Am Not A Christian''(ENGLISH)
- eBook: 'Meditations & Contemplations: A Reader For Both Atheists And Creationists' (ENGLISH)
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- eBook: 'Names And Titles Of Jesus Of Nazareth (ENGLISH)'
- eBoek: 'Darwin Of Christus: Suid-Afrikaners By 'n Kruispad!' [AFRIKAANS].
- eBoek: 'Bevryding Van Die Anti-Evangelie Van Ateisme-Evolusionisme' [AFRIKAANS].
- eBoek: 'Name & Titels Van Jesus Christus' [AFRIKAANS].
- eTracts, Christian (Free, Downloadable): Free, downloadable Christian eTracts for free distribution (ENGLISH)
- eTraktate, Christelik (Gratis, Aflaaibaar): Gratis, aflaaibabre Christelike Traktate vir gratis verspreiding (AFRIKAANS)
Bibliography
1. Andrews,
Allen (1969) Quotations For Speakers And
Writers. Newnes Books. Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd. London.
2. LastFM.
‘Mama Sang A Song/Bill Anderson)’. Accessed At <http://www.last.fm/music/Bill+Anderson>
[online] 2013.
3. LyricsMode.
‘Mama Sang A Song’. Accessed At <http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/b/bill_anderson/mama_sang_a_song.html>
[online] 2013.
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