My sisters and I used to make up songs. Not just single songs, but entire musicals, usually performed to our reflections in the bathroom mirror, brandishing toothbrushes while we belted our finales that never seemed to conclude. Singing also took place in the car, our compositions often related to something we wanted our parents to do, such as:
“Dairybell, Dairybell, de-de-de-dairybell.”
Why ask for ice-cream when you can sing an annoying, endless song about ice-cream? Eventually the poor parent in question would be worn down by the chorus of children in the back, and relent and pull into Dairybell.
Another song we made up was composed after someone had said something rude, and Mum called out to the back of the car, “I don’t want any guttertalk!” Well, we thought the word “guttertalk” to be a hilarious one, and made up the following song, which you have to imagine in the style of a barbershop quartet:
First singer: “Don’t say guttertalk...”
Second singer: “Don’t say guttertalk....”
Third singer: “Don’t say guttertalk…”
Spoken by one kid: “Guttertalk.”
Everybody [shocked]: “Hhhhhhhhhh?!!!!”
That was literally the entire song, and we would sing it over and over until our mother nearly exploded with annoyance.
Recently I taught my five year old son the ‘Guttertalk’ song, and he found it as hilarious as we did. My son is also a great composer of songs, and he usually doesn’t mind if you join in (as long as you keep to the tune and stay on topic). The other night we were standing in the scooter parking area at kinder and I’m sure we improvised a number that would have been quite at home amongst my sisters in our family bathroom.
Why do we sing? Because it’s fun! And it brings us together. It is why we sing together in church, and now that people don’t go to church much anymore, it’s why people join community choirs. There’s an event called ‘Pub Choir’ where someone stands on a stage and gets a crowd of people with beers in hand to sing songs, voices rising and merging into one collective voice. When we sing together it connects us, it gets us smiling, it relaxes us, it makes us feel part of the tribe again. In a society where we are often shut off from each other, singing reunites us.
I’m excited to say there’s some new singing opportunities at The Meeting Place, aka Murrumbeena Uniting Church. You can bring along a ukulele and join local duo the Tuck Shop Ladies for some laughs and some tunes (last Wednesday of the month, 7pm). And stay tuned for a regular lunchtime sing-along, coming soon…
Singing – and singing together – is surely part of what is restoring our connections, our humanity, healing the damaged connections between us. So let’s stretch our vocal chords and get singing.
Words by Rev Andreana
Photo by Saulo Leite, Pexels
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