I
was shocked today reading the news that American pop singer Patti Page
died. I was shocked primarily because I had
no idea she had lived up to this point in time, but also because she was only
85 years old (a year younger than my late mother would have been). She is one of my earliest musical memories,
because my mother was a big fan of hers and had a number of her records which I
grew up with.
.
Reading
her obituaries, I saw that the dates of some of her greatest hits were during
the years when I was a rug-rat in the early 1950s. We had an old cabinet phonograph, and the
records of that era were the big 78-rpm ones that broke so easily. One song per side.
.
Reading
of Page recording with Mercury Records reminded me of the old Mercury label on
the 78s and of me playing Tennessee Waltz over and over again. It was a sad song, and with me being just a
little tike I didn’t completely understand all of the feelings involved – but I
recognized, somehow, the mournful yearning expressed in her beautiful
voice. I get chills just thinking about
the lyrics to this day. A classic, it
was played in the 1983 film The Right Stuff.
.
Other
songs of hers that I remember from those early 78s were Mockin’ Bird Hill (an absolutely beautiful song), and Detour (“Detour/ There’s a rocky road ahead/ Detour”). One special favorite of mine was (How Much
Is That) Doggie in the Window. I’ve
been singing it in my head all day long.
("How much is that doggie in the window? /The one with the waggley tail/
How much is that doggie in the window? /I do hope that doggie’s for sale.”) As a little kid, I probably drove my parents
crazy by singing that out loud, over and over again.
.
Patti Page. That
gal had a beautiful voice, and I thank her for the memories.
.
-Zenwind.
.
