A little grandmother’s indulgence in this blog, the sixth of #mysongscapes of winter 2020. I write this also in memory of my own paternal grandmother, my “nanny”, with whom I had a special relationship throughout the 30-plus years of our lives that we shared.
In the 1960s, as folk music went mainstream, there were songs that I learned as a teenager that stayed with me throughout life. One in particular, ‘Today’, a favourite sung by John Denver, became a lullaby I sang to my own kids. In fact, my daughter also sang this song at the campfire in her years as a camper, then a counsellor, at summer camp. I read the lyrics as a kind of general carpe diem – those blossoms won’t last forever, so seize the day, the relationship, the time we have. As psychologist Dr. Judith Rich said of the song’s lyrics in an essay on Huffington post, “Here’s the single certainty every human being has to come to terms with. We each have a life. And every life has an expiration date. But unlike so many of the products we buy, our expiration date does not come stamped on our foreheads. The human conundrum is living with the knowledge that our expiration date will surely come to pass, yet we do not know when we’ll arrive at the appointed hour.” So when my first grandchild Emma came along, I sang the song to her, too. I think it must be true that your first grandchild has a special place in your heart. She’s the first one to make your heart swell with love, the first one to remind you of the circle of life and the generations that stand one atop the other. She’s the one who combines the qualities of your own child and her chosen one.
All three of my grandkids have had a story read to them and a song sung to them every night of their lives. The first time I put my granddaughter to bed on my own I pulled out my entire lullaby repertoire and went through quite a few before her eyes started to close. And I’m so happy now that I put my camera on top of her dresser that evening five years ago, because those little flowers don’t stay on those vines forever. That 14-month old is now in first grade, reading all the books she can get her hands on and learning how to play chess and hanging out with her two brothers.
Here are the lyrics to Randy Spark’s beautiful 1964 song, written for The New Christy Minstrels.
TODAY, Randy Sparks (1964)
Today, while the blossoms still cling to the vine
I’ll taste your strawberries, I’ll drink your sweet wine
A million tomorrows shall all pass away
‘Ere I forget all the joy that is mine, today
I’ll be a dandy, and I’ll be a rover
You’ll know who I am by the songs that I sing
I’ll feast at your table, I’ll sleep in your clover
Who cares what the morrow shall bring
Today, while the blossoms still cling to the vine
I’ll taste your strawberries, I’ll drink your sweet wine
A million tomorrows shall all pass away
‘Ere I forget all the joy that is mine, today
I can’t be contented with yesterday’s glory
I can’t live on promises winter to spring
Today is my moment, now is my story
I’ll laugh and I’ll cry and I’ll sing
Today, while the blossoms still cling to the vine
I’ll taste your strawberries, I’ll drink your sweet wine
A million tomorrows shall all pass away
‘Ere I forget all the joy that is mine, today
Today, while the blossoms still cling to the vine
I’ll taste your strawberries, I’ll drink your sweet wine
A million tomorrows shall all pass away
‘Ere I forget all the joy that is mine, today
And here is John Denver singing it live:
A wonderful thing happened in August 2016, two years later. My granddaughter Emma, now just turned 3, had learned another famous John Denver song from her own mother, this one written by him in 1969. It was a song that my daughter and I sang together when she was a little girl and that my sister Bonnie sang onstage with my daughter Meredith, below, at a family reunion in 1996.
Here is ‘Leaving on a Jet Plane’, performed with great gusto by Meredith’s daughter Emma, with backup by her mom.
LEAVING ON A JET PLANE, John Denver (1966)
All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go
I’m standin’ here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin’, it’s early morn
The taxi’s waitin’, he’s blowin’ his horn
Already I’m so lonesome I could die
So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you’ll wait for me
Hold me like you’ll never let me go
‘Cause I’m leavin’ on a jet plane
Don’t know when I’ll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
There’s so many times I’ve let you down
So many times I’ve played around
I tell you now, they don’t mean a thing
Every place I go, I’ll think of you
Every song I sing, I’ll sing for you
When I come back,I’ll bring your wedding ring
So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you’ll wait for me
Hold me like you’ll never let me go
‘Cause I’m leavin’ on a jet plane
Don’t know when I’ll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
Now the time has come to leave you
One more time, let me kiss you
Then close your eyes, I’ll be on my way
Dream about the days to come
When I won’t have to leave alone
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Kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you’ll wait for me
Hold me like you’ll never let me go
‘Cause I’m leavin’ on a jet plane
Don’t know when I’ll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
But, I’m leavin’ on a jet plane
Don’t know when I’ll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
Though John Denver wrote it (and, experienced pilot that he was, sadly died in 1997 when his own small experimental plane crashed off California), it was Peter, Paul & Mary who made this song famous.
******
EMMA
And now, because it’s my blog and I’m the boss of me and also the editor of me, here’s a little album of my first grandchild to go along with this sing-song. What nana doesn’t love sharing a picnic blanket with her granddaughter?
Speaking of tasting strawberries, this was a first taste of her other grandmother’s fruitful harvest, the grandmother with the beautiful Alberta farm.
A first birthday, a home-baked cupcake.
It wasn’t always easy to keep her in one place, but occasionally we could pose together quietly.
She learned to chat with Siri pretty early in life.
Books! That girl loved books and loves them even more, now that she knows how to read the words and understand the story.
We had a long talk that winter morning over her make-believe fruit and cheese. What is real? What is pretend?
When she came to visit nana and poppa, the playground at the bottom of the hill was always a big draw.
It was cold that day. We needed our warm hats.
I was there when mommy and daddy brought home another little brother. He was so very tiny.
April, and spring flowers were finally in bloom. She brought a little bouquet of scilla to nana.
She was four years old when nana asked her to pretend to water her garden while she photographed it. (It would have been better if there was water in the watering can.)
Another snowy winter day and she and Oliver made a beautiful snowman in nana and poppa’s back yard.
That fall, when I came to pick her up from school, she wanted to climb to the very top of the bleachers in the park. And she wanted me to come up there with her.
On Lake Muskoka, she and her brother climbed that rock like billy goats, then told each other funny stories on top.
Last May, I made her a crown of dandelions, sweet violets and grape hyacinths.
She might not know it yet, but she comes from a maternal line of flowery crown wearers.
When I babysat that late summer day, I suggested a game of scavenger hunt to her and her brothers but then I remembered that not everyone knew how to read the clues. So I drew them… different ones for each grandchild.
This Christmas, she mastered the art of talking to her brother on their brand new two-way radios. “Roger that…. over and out.”
*********
If you’re a folk song fan like me, you might enjoy going back to previous blogs in #mysongscapes series, beginning with Joni Mitchell’s ‘Night in the City’; Paul Simon’s ‘Kodachrome’ and my life in photography; Vietnam and Songs of Protest; a visit to Ireland and Galway Bay; and Simon & Garfunkel’s Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme.
And please feel free to leave a comment below. I love to read them.