|
|
Voice |
|
|
Write:
|
Not many people recognize the name Gene Austin. Even the youth of today know the Beatles, Elvis, Sinatra and Gene Autry, recognizing him for singing “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” if for no other reason. Any new singer now who doesn’t sell a million records first time out is snubbed. In the day when there were fewer music consumers, no iPods, no CDs and no Internet, music had to be enjoyed from the radio or perhaps a phonograph with a needle producing a small sound to be projected through wooden or metal chamber to magnify the sound. Records were a fragile disc revolving on a turntable at 78 RPM. Before there was a Rudy Vallee or Bing Crosby or a Perry Como, there was Gene Austin who set the mold in the 1920s and 1930s. He was the first crooner. Born in Gainesville, Texas, in 1900, he served in the army beginning in 1916, first chasing outlaw Pancho Villa at the Mexican border and then in France during World War I. He came back to study law and dentistry. But his passion was singing. He wrote over 100 songs and sold 86-millioon discs for RCA Victor. His songs were a hit parade all their own, with such tunes still popping up nostalgically today. “My Melancholy Baby.” “Carolina Moon.” “Sleepy Time Gal.” “Girl of My Dreams.” By far, his biggest hit was “My Blue Heaven.” It reached the 12-million sales mark and was the top all time record seller for decades. As small boy growing up in the decade following the 1929 Depression, I vaguely knew the name and could have been little impressed by sales volumes. All I knew was that soft echo like sound painting a lyrical word picture of a blue heaven and a happy home. My father never sang much in public, that I recall. But he sang often with a happy and loud voice when he and I walked alone in the country. A picture still lives in my memory of him and me walking down a red clay rural road cutting a path through red clay banks. The sky was the universe. Lyrics of “My Blue Heaven” go “Molly and me and baby makes three.” My mother’s name was Grace. My father would sing, “Gracie and me and Petey make three in my blue heaven.” I felt loved and secure. All was right with my world. The song has lived in my memory down through the years. I had a wife of my own and she was a mother. This was my blue heaven. Time went on and the children had children and families of their own. But the song lingers on. Recently I found it listed on the Internet with an album of Gene Austin’s songs and I ordered it. “My Blue Heaven” is a special song for me, and this is a special time of year. Holiday mail over Christmas has delayed it, but my mind sings it for me. Each of us has a “blue heaven” of our own. It’s something to enjoy and live on through the years.
|
