Remember that song

If I asked you to tell me one song that you remember singing in school when you were young, what would you answer? For me it is the “Remember Your Name And Address” song that I learned when I was in Kindergarten. I am old enough to pre-date the Tiny Tim version, which is the only version I found while searching the Internet. What makes a song memorable?

When I ask students that I’ve taught over 30 years ago, what they remember about 6th grade, the answer that I’ve heard more than once has been,  “When we sang, ‘Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor On The Bedpost Overnight’”.  Truly a memorable song.  Why that song?  What is it about the tune, lyrics or time period that makes it worth remembering?

I sing a lot of songs in schools, when I perform.  I get very good responses from all my audiences. Most songs I sing have choruses that I ask the audience to sing along with. Now as most performers know, not every audience you work with is in a singing mood when asked. Some groups get very involved in the singing aloud, others shy away from it.  I never know what audience I’m performing for, until I start asking for participation. In all my performances there are two songs that I have never had any difficulty getting audiences to whole-heartedly join in and sing aloud. They are: “The Cat Came Back” and “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”. The “Cat Came Back”, I usually have to teach the group once; “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” I just have to start singing and everyone boisterously just joins in.

I would love to discover the answer to what makes a song memorable. One suspicion of mine is that it is like brainwashing. You play a tune enough times to someone at an early enough age; it becomes ingrained in their mind.  That would definitely work for “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”. It might also explain “Remember Your Name and Address”.  Who knows how many times we had to sing it in Kindergarten and first grade.

That wouldn’t work for “The Cat…” and “…Chewing Gum…” In those cases it just might be the uniqueness of the subject matter.  Or possibly some alien technology that triggers songs from our youth to play in our mind to keep us sleep deprived prior to an invasion.

Whatever the reason, I want to be able to write those songs… so I’ll keep writing.