I believe most of us remember the lovely lullabies our parents would sing to us when we were children or when we were afraid of the dark and our Mothers would come in and sing us to sleep, vanishing away all those monsters who lived underneath our bed. We may also remember the music that was played in our homes while we were growing up. My parents had this fantastic stereo/television combination. Designed as furniture as well as a radio and record player, the long wooden cabinet concealed the record player on one side and the records on the other. The television was in the middle. In my household, the record player played records 90% of the time. It was Charlie Pride, Elvis, Dusty Springfield, Ray Charles and Julie Andrews, and of course the cheerful uplifting voice of Louis Armstrong.
When my baby boy was born, I wanted to continue the tradition of having music in our home, as well as teaching him about all the great singers and songwriters that I had come to love. Mornings were filled with The Beatles and their “Here Comes The Sun” or “Octopus’s Garden,” or Judy Collins “Chelsea Morning.” However, my little guy fell completely in love with Louis Armstrong and his very favorite song was his “Cool Yule” and not just at Christmas, all the time. When we dared to change the Louis Armstrong CD or even the song, we would hear “No, no, no, more SATCHMO please.” Well, at least he would say please! If we were in our car, I would look in the backseat, and there in his car seat was my darling son, his whole self-rocking and rolling to the magic sounds of his favorite singer, and yes, we would play “Cool Yule” over and over again. Now, when I hear Louis Armstrong I am immediately taken back to those first years when my baby was very young. Simply, this is the perfect example of the power of music and I would like to add the importance. Music has the beautiful ability to transport us back in time, a time machine that brings back those special memories we never want to forget.
“He’ll come a-callin’ when the snow’s the most
When all you cats are sleepin’ warm as toast
And you gonna flip when old Saint Nick
takes a lick on the peppermint stick.”
My heart will always be happy when I hear this song….for the rest of my life.