There was much wonderful singing but the two numbers that got me the most were "Going to get married" and "Bring him home."
Going to the Chapel of Love was sung by three women. They were dressed in street clothes but all wore white bridal headdresses, one very long and trailing. They had gleams in their eyes and shone with both humor and verve. You could just see back a few decades to both their real and imagined wedding days. As soon as I read the title of their number, I could hear the song from years back, playing in my head.
I am not really much of a popular music person. I imagine musicians and popular music historians and recording company executives ponder deeply over what makes a sound ring in the mind and memory. The rendition linked above by the Dixie Cups has a harmony and rhythm that grabs my head. The lyrics are sweet and youthful, too. "Gee, I really love you" and "we're going to get married and we'll never be lonely anymore."
The other song is quite a different matter. It has a special place in my head, well, two really. We conducted a group of 40 students abroad for a semester in London and a tour of Europe. One of the courses the students could take in London was a drama course. Lynn and I bought tickets and went to the avant-garde plays that represented the cutting edge of drama at that time and place. A guy can only take so much of that and I was determined to go to something really popular before we left. A big ad for "Les Miserables" jumped out of the paper at me. It was the most professional, compelling, memorable drama performance I have ever been to.
One hears jokes and difficulties with mothers-in-law but in my experience, fathers-in-law matter very much, too. For a hubby, they can be daunting, imposing, challenging. Still, any father is going to grasp how much the hubby means to his daughter and his grandchildren. "Bring him home" is a heart-twisting song by a dad asking God to bring his precious son-in-law home safely from war. I first heard it nearly 20 years ago and it has a special place in my heart. Men can love and respect and admire and need each other, too. This song shows that truth. Sung by a passionate and expert singer, it left both men and women all through the room wiping their eyes..
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