There was a time …

When there were kitchen parties

When a coffee or a beer joined with the tunes

When a fiddler launched into a solo

Then guitar, harmonica, maybe a stand-up bass

And the voices!

Untrained … Unrestrained … In joy together

Harry Chapin, long dead now, wrote a song about the music.  Living rooms and kitchens rather than grand concert halls.

Just folks opening their mouths …

Remember when the music
Came from wooden boxes strung with silver wire
And as we sang the words, it would set our minds on fire
For we believed in things, and so we’d sing

Remember when the music
Brought us all together to stand inside the rain
And as we’d join our hands, we’d meet in the refrain,
For we had dreams to live, we had hopes to give

Remember when the music
Was the best of what we dreamed of for our children’s time
And as we sang we worked, for time was just a line
It was a gift we saved, a gift the future gave

Remember when the music
Was a rock that we could cling to so we’d not despair
And as we sang we knew we’d hear an echo fill the air
We’d be smiling then, we would smile again

Oh all the times I’ve listened, and all the times I’ve heard
All the melodies I’m missing, and all the magic words
And all those potent voices, and the choices we had then
How I’d love to find we had that kind of choice again

Remember when the music
Was a glow on the horizon of every newborn day
And as we sang, the sun came up to chase the dark away
And life was good, for we knew we could

Remember when the music
Brought the night across the valley as the day went down
And as we’d hum the melody, we’d be safe inside the sound
And so we’d sleep, we had dreams to keep

Remember when the music
Came from wooden boxes strung with silver wire
And as we sang the words, it would set our minds on fire
For we believed in things, and so we’d sing

***

There was a magazine way back when …

Sing Out!

Yes