Topic starter
16/03/2011 11:11 am
As soon as a professional musician heard Helen Prater play three bars he knew her. He recognized that she was "solid" in musical argot, meaning she could read, fake or transpose as needed and was utterly unshakable.
When a local radio station abandoned live music a band I was in inherited its library. There were hundreds of old tunes there in sheet-music, stock and many other forms. The library dated from the mid-1920's to the late 1930's. There were some jewels in there with titles like, "Grammy, You're My Mammy's Mammy," and "Will You still Love Me When My Flivver Has a Flat?" among others.
I used to take one per year to the S&D Meetings, where Helen and and I would laugh about the ludicrous lyrics and the archaic chord progressions. I would spring them on her as requests. Our favorite was a forgettable one titled, "When Rose Blows Her Nose On Her Clothes Her Hose Shows." The song was as innocent in content as a kindergartner's Wag and Puff stories.
It was used in a vaudeville skit.
If what I wrote as a tribute to Helen offended anyone I am deeply sorry.
16/03/2011 12:22 pm
*No apology required*
Hi, Alan & Steamboating colleagues:
Alan, I LOVE your posting above and mark it as a classic on Steamboats.org. You need not apologize in the least. Memories come with warts, scars, bruises and all. Yes, those old song titles were not only hysterical but pretty raw with double meanings. That's the way it was then. A somewhat innocent age compared to the lyrics--if you call them that--our young people listen to today in rap and other clap trap. Helen was no innocent little wall flower and loved a good joke [And strong drink] that pushed the envelope as much as anybody. She'd lived and been around people from the tip top to the bottom of the pile. Remember her favorite greeting? "Oh, honey!" she'd say before launching off. Dig in your 'dusty boxes' and pull out more of those old song titles to share with us. Helen would roar with laughter.
One time Helen and I talked about certain odors that elicited memories of long ago. Helen perked up. "Oh, honey! One time, after Bernie and I were married, I was walking down the street and suddenly stopped dead. I smelled the odor of hot roofing tar being put on a building that made me remember the smell of the tar the crews used to spread on the roofs of the steamboats when I was young."
R. Dale Flick
Coal Haven Landing, Ohio River, Cincinnati