MUSIC, A UKULELE AND LOVE YOUR FATE

"Gray skies are gonna clear up . . "

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Right from the start

I was wedded to music

like a soulmate.

(soapstone sculpture from Kenya)

"Dancing in the dark . . ." 

"Me and my Shadow . . ."

"I Only Have Eyes for You . . ."

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My other half - my lonely half

heard melodies - like teardrops

and later composed music.

It all came from Mother (b.1909)

who sang lyrics all the time— 

lyrics she’d learned from

 the radio, back in the 20s.

 "I get the blues when it rains . . ."

"Baby Face"

"If You Knew Susie . . ."

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Years later, she brought me

old sheet music she’d found at a yard sale.

I felt Mother’s sadness over

her first boyfriend, Jimmy Hester.

She had his framed picture.

He had a thin mustache.

(Mother, 2nd from r. - 1928 age 19)

Maybe he’s in this photo,

or maybe this is Walter Gray,

Mother's mysterious first marriage.

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Her sadness was my sadness.

Her father put a bullet through his head

in 1929 right in the front yard

on Holderness St. in West End, Atlanta.

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So sad. No one talked about it.

She never spoke of it until her 70s.

---

I never knew my own father.

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And NOW, a bit of "good fortune!!!

I want to thank

 Mrs. Guy,

our 5th Grade Music teacher.

(J. C. Harris School - 1947 - 5th Grade)

She taught us to sing in two-part harmony

and later ballroom dancing in the 

school auditorium.

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Thank you, Mrs. Guy,

you brought a song flute to class

 and I learned to play a duet

 with Robert Stephenson

another only child.

(We were sweethearts. Photo: At recess in 5th grade playground with Robert)

Thank you Mrs. Guy,

You brought a ukulele to class

and showed me the two chords

 to Polly Wolly Doodle.

I sat over in the corner

at recess and practiced

until I could play and sing it.

I used those chords to write a

song called Roly Poly

on a little plastic ukulele

 Mother bought me for $3.95.

---------

At sixteen,

I wrote Yesterday’s Love, my first song

over losing Robert.

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Yes, I was born with a broken heart

that was my FATE

and my DESTINY

was to write songs and lyrics

and chronicle it all in a diary . . .

(July 17, 1953)

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Now, I live in a world

of my own creation,

taking photos, putting it all together

to make sense of what it means to

LOVE YOUR FATE

in a

Blue Tomato World.

Check out this music video!!

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Thanks so much for watching!!

(Scroll down for more posts

"Second Coming of Age"

"Rainy Day Reflections"

"All Those Journals")