I don’t know why I’m posting this–but why not? We’ve had enough bad nooze for one morning. So Burl Ives sings a nonsense song from the Civil War…
Which proves that God has built into the human spirit a certain amount of effervescence–even in the midst of a calamity like the Civil War, we can dream up funny songs. As long as we can do that, we will endure; we will not be crushed. Laughter is a gift from God: and God forbid that we should ever be without it.
I was seven years old when this song came out in 1956. I only heard it once, but I never forgot it–because, well! What 7-year-old wouldn’t be fascinated by a train running through the middle of the house? I’m afraid I took the lyrics literally. We went to visit Grammy one night and I was kind of sleepy, coming home. So my father turned on the car radio, and this song was what I heard. Woke me right up!
Bob Hilliard wrote it, Rusty Draper and Vaughn Monroe recorded it independently of each other, and it was a big hit in both the USA and Britain.
Trying to figure out all this gender-poop gives me a hot head. But this song gives me a hot head that spins!
I’m My Own Granda–unravel it if you can.