Songs Close to My Heart

“How great it would have been had our family had good singing voices.  Well, it would have been great, but I don’t believe we would have enjoyed singing anymore than we have.”

Marjorie Zinn Beems

This is the introduction on a cassette tape created by my mother entitled “Songs Close to My Heart.”  On this cassette she relates the many melodies that sang through her life; songs that were sung by her grandparents and parents, songs that she learned as a child and young adult, songs that she taught us children to sing, and songs that she created for our family.

What a treasure this collection has become!  Just to hear my mother’s voice and to hear her describe family members and the impressions of what their life was like is a simply, beautiful gift that she gave to us. 

I have included several songs on the website for Ivan, Everett and Ursula.   You’ll find them under Marjorie’s Musical Memories on their individual pages.  Here, I would like to share some other songs that made a lasting impression on me and a few that just say, “This is my family.”

Here is one of the first songs, Mom remembers teaching.

“Goodnight Ladies”.

I love music and have always loved a silly little song.  Children’s songs tend to be some of my favorites as I often sang them to my children and now sing them to my grandchildren. “Three Little Fishies” and “Mairzy Doats” are such songs.

One of my favorite songs to sing with my sisters and cousins was “Playmate.”  It was a fun action song involving patterns of clapping and slapping.  We sang this song for many an hour.

Of course, my favorite songs from my mother are the ones she composed for our family.  

First there was “Daddy-O,” a song we could sing to look forward to our daddy coming home after a long day’s work.  

Then there was “The Name Song”. It was an especially important song as each one of us kids had our own verse.

I hope you have enjoyed listening to these treasures.  

Do you remember these or other special songs that we sang at family gatherings?  Please share your memories in the comments below.