Amanuensis Monday ~ The Stories That Should Be Told, Part 24

The following transcription is from a series of recordings my father made in the early 1990s:

I remember hearing the old juke boxes playing up town.  They had a juke box up at Charlie's Nite Club.  They would play it in the late afternoons and nights and you could hear it all over this little village. 

Some of the songs I remember that played on the juke box up at Charlie’s in the late 1930s and early 1940s...

'Is It True What They Say About Dixie'

[father sings]

“Is it true what they say about Dixie? Does the sun really shine all the time?  Do the sweet Magnolias blossom at everybody’s door?  Do folks keep eating possum til they can’t eat no more?  Is it true what they say about Dixie?”

'The Music Goes Round and Around'

[father sings]

“You push that first dial down and music goes down and round and it comes out here.”

'Darktown Strutters’ Ball'

I associate this song with Mrs. Birdie Talbert Krause.  We sang that song at a play we had at school.  Mrs. Birdie always directed those plays at school.  She was a good director and she enjoyed it. 

'Camptown Races'

This was another song I associated with Mrs. Birdie Krause because we sang this in one of our school plays.

Other songs that held special meaning to me...

'Beautiful Dreamer'

I associate this song with Mrs. Estelle Peck.  She played the piano and I played the trumpet.  We played together a couple of times at church and another function.  On one occasion, we played Beautiful Dreamer together. That was back in 1941, 42, or 43.

'Sweet Hour of Prayer'

When I hear 'Sweet Hour of Prayer' I always think of Cousin Eva Gordon and seeing her standing there in church holding the hymnal and singing. Cousin Eva and Cousin Jessie Chisum were Grandma Steele's first cousins.  Eva married Dr. Gordon, Jessie married a McNair.  I remember them taking a big part in church. 

Cousin Eva and Cousin Jessie were not only Grandma Steele’s first cousins, they were Grandpa Steele’s first cousins.  My mother was double kin to them.  They were her double second cousins.

Allye Steele Edmonds

My mother played the piano by ear.  She couldn’t read a note of music. She could hear you whistle or sing or hear something on the radio and she could sit down at the piano and play it.  

She played a lot of songs but one I remember was 'Saint Louis Blues'.

There was an old piano in this house that burned.  That piano was bought for my mother back when she was a little girl.  It stayed in this old house. 

Lucille sitting at Allye's first piano

When we moved to the other house, my mother bought another piano.  I remember back in 1932, seeing them bring that piano in on a dolly.  

Many years later, when Mildred and I moved back in the old Steele house, we moved my mother’s piano over there too.  Both pianos were in the living room and that is where the fire did the most damage.  We lost them both.

Note:  Parts 1-23 of 'The Stories That Should Be Told' can be found in the Tags List on the right-hand side of this blog.