This is my mama singing.
She was about 13 years old.
There are others from six years later.
My sister and I discovered the records after my mama passed away.
We didn't even know they existed...
but they sure did, along with the others that other family members recorded.
We wish we could have asked her for more of the story behind these.
I love her voice. I really love her voice.
Every time we hear "Good Morning" from "Singing in the Rain",
J and I agree it sounds like my mama.
My sister remembered the story of how mom wanted to join a band,
and was set to do so until my Nana said 'no way'!
The record skipping and crackling is such a part of the charm,
don't you agree?
Eventually, what was learned about how these were made is explained here:
(Don't ya just love online research?!)
She was about 13 years old.
There are others from six years later.
My sister and I discovered the records after my mama passed away.
We didn't even know they existed...
but they sure did, along with the others that other family members recorded.
We wish we could have asked her for more of the story behind these.
I love her voice. I really love her voice.
Every time we hear "Good Morning" from "Singing in the Rain",
J and I agree it sounds like my mama.
My sister remembered the story of how mom wanted to join a band,
and was set to do so until my Nana said 'no way'!
The record skipping and crackling is such a part of the charm,
don't you agree?
Eventually, what was learned about how these were made is explained here:
(Don't ya just love online research?!)
From this site: Audio-Restorations
- Homemade record speeds can vary from 78, 45 and 33 1/3 rpm.
- They were made using a home record maker similar to the one shown to the right. (picture not copied here)
- Years
ago, some stores had a little recording booth you could go into and
record yourself, these were called "automat" recording machines.
- Many of these records were made during WWll and the Korean war as letter-records (" Your Man in Service" ).
- USO records were generally branded " USO" , " Pepsi" " GEM" or " Coca Cola".
- Other brands include Recordio, Wilcox Gay, Voice-O-Graph, Silvertone, Federal Perma, Audiodisc, Duo Disc and many more.
- The titles and artist's names are generally hand written on the disk.
- Often there is more than one hole in the disk, sometimes as many as four.
- Some records are made of metal, some are cardboard. Some have a layer of "black paint" (lacquer), some are colored red or green.
- Here's a close-up photo of a homemade record.
Our family chose to record their version of popular songs,
mock interviews with each other and re-worked holiday songs,
with heir own personalized lyrics.
What a fun find!
What a great time I've had creating this.
Here are a couple of original versions, if you'd like to listen.
1941 Amapola
1946 The Hut Sut Song
It is funny, but I'm so used to hearing my mom's sweet voice all of these years,
that I really like her version best! Only a little biased, right?!
My Auntie's did a an equally wonderful version of Delores.
I have no idea which version in her day inspired her,
but she and my mom LOVED Frank!
So, that's the one I used here.
Maybe because she was older,
her voice was so much deeper, fuller than my mom's.
Hers was beautiful as well.
Lastly, I happened to notice the following song while on You Tube,
and I just couldn't resist putting it here too.
My mom sang this to me and then to my children.
I loved it because I loved the word play.
She loved these nonsense songs, so of course I did too!
Mairzy Doats
I'm so glad to finally finish this video started so long ago.
I still have a few others I'd like to wrap up while this computer still works.
I'm grateful for a dying computer to kick me into gear.
I'm grateful for the time to play.
May you find and use your inspiration where you can
May you embrace nonsense now and again
May you sing!
xo
Photographs by NAE ©2020
It is funny, but I'm so used to hearing my mom's sweet voice all of these years,
that I really like her version best! Only a little biased, right?!
My Auntie's did a an equally wonderful version of Delores.
I have no idea which version in her day inspired her,
but she and my mom LOVED Frank!
So, that's the one I used here.
Maybe because she was older,
her voice was so much deeper, fuller than my mom's.
Hers was beautiful as well.
Lastly, I happened to notice the following song while on You Tube,
and I just couldn't resist putting it here too.
My mom sang this to me and then to my children.
I loved it because I loved the word play.
She loved these nonsense songs, so of course I did too!
Mairzy Doats
I'm so glad to finally finish this video started so long ago.
I still have a few others I'd like to wrap up while this computer still works.
I'm grateful for a dying computer to kick me into gear.
I'm grateful for the time to play.
May you find and use your inspiration where you can
May you embrace nonsense now and again
May you sing!
xo
Photographs by NAE ©2020