"What the heck is 'aroo'?" read the text from my sister.
I knew exactly what she was talking about before even reading the rest of the text.
She was talking about "At the Gates of Heaven," MY lullaby, the one I'd been singing to unsuspecting children ever since I learned it from my dandy fifth grade songbook.
Well, it IS the loveliest lullaby ever composed, and all the children seemed to like it. It was like an elixir - a magic potion that soothed them. If they were still awake when I finished, their typical response was "Sing it again!" My son, who is 28, stills likes to hear it now and then.
Oh, let me tell you, nothing is more satisfying than when the audience demands an encore. Clearly, I had found my signature song.
Now my sister, one of the first young children who listened to my rendition of the song, was singing it to her grandson. I explained to her that I always sang the phrase in question as "adieu, adieu" meaning "goodbye" in French.
Slumber my baby
Slumber adieu, adieu
Slumber now my baby
Adieu, Adieu
She told me that that made sense but when she looked it up the word was "aroo."
That didn't surprise me. I often sing slightly different lyrics to songs without realizing it because I prefer them to the real words. This drives my husband, the Very Literal Music Director, crazy. He insists upon correcting what I consider to be creative license, even if I am just singing around the house for my own enjoyment.
Wait just one minute here... did this mean my sister was SINGING??? My sister doesn't sing. She may be able to sing, but we can't be sure because no one has ever heard her sing. So I asked her.
There was a long pause. Then her text came back to me.
"Sometimes you have to do what you have to do."
It seems that "At the Gates of Heaven" can have a magical effect on adults too.
AT GATES OF HEAVEN (a Spanish Lullaby)
At the gates of heaven
Little shoes they are selling
for the little barefooted
Angels there dwelling
Slumber my baby
Slumber adieu, adieu
Slumber now my baby
Adieu, Adieu
God will bless the children
So peacefully sleeping
God will bless the mothers
Whose watch they are keeping
Slumber my baby
Slumber adieu, adieu
Slumber now my baby
Adieu, Adieu
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I do not remember this song! I do remember a gradeschool songbook entry that went, "Coo Coo Roo. My Little White Pigeon I'm calling,. Coo Coo Roo. My Pigeon I'm calling to you."
ReplyDeleteI guess it's a good thing I never had reason to sing that lullaby to unsuspecting human children.
But Adieu? I don't. hmm.
I don't remember the pigeon song at all. I was particularly fond of our fifth grade songbook - I wanted to keep it. My other favorite song from that book was "There's a Blue Sky" which was also a popular Girl Scout song!
DeleteAha! Haven't thought of Coo Coo Roo probably since I last sang it, like, in fifth grade! "If you come to me when I ask you to, I'll have corn and peanuts and bread for you." But then, if I were Virginia Montinez (aka Pitt Girl, aka @JanePitt on Twitter), I'd shoot the little coo-coo-roo with a BB gun.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember "At the Gates of Heaven." Maybe teachers discovered it after our class, since I'm a year older. But also hadn't thought of "There's a Blue Sky" for years! And what about "Dormi Non Piangere"? Another pretty, Italian lullaby.
--P. Boyd
"Coo Coo Roo" sounds like a song I would have liked, too. I particularly like the descant harmony for "There's a Blue Sky" :-)
ReplyDeleteYes, now I remember "At The Gates of Heaven"- at least the chorus. And "There's A Blue Sky" was another favorite.
ReplyDeleteA few nights ago the bunda bunda section of "Sarasponda" worked its way into a dream.
Did anyone else feel my elation when "Who Has Seen the Wind?" was recorded by Yoko Ono?
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DeleteFound "Sarasponda" - beautiful!
Delete"Elation" doesn't exactly capture my feelings about Yoko Ono's rendition of "Who Has Seen the Wind..."
Hey kids (btw - this Anonymous poster is c.brown. I'm just too lazy to figure out how to post here under one of my account names.) Could this be an updatedversion of teh song books we had in gradeschool? Take a look at the table of contents inside a few of 'em. "Old Dan Tucker" is there. So is "St.Joseph was a Carpenter" http://www.setonbooks.com/viewone.php?ToView=P-MUST-11
ReplyDeleteOohh... I think you may be onto something here, KC!!! Exciting. :-)
Delete