I’m sure everyone is familiar with the 1930s song that you still hear from time to time: “Shine on Harvest Moon”. But I wonder if anyone knows the jingle that precedes that opening line, “Shine on, shine on harvest moon, for me and my gal….”
My mother used to sing it, and I’m fortunate to have it recorded, albeit on a cassette tape. It goes like this:
“The night was mighty dark and you could hardly see; the moon refused to shine. The couple sitting underneath the willow tree for love they pined. The little maid was kind of ‘fraid of darkness, so, she said, “l guess I’ll go.” The boy began to sigh; he looked up in the sky and told the moon his little tale of woe: “Shine on, shine on harvest moon, up in the sky….”
I found it on YouTube. And if you’re curious and want to be entertained, listen to it sung by Ruth Etting, 1931.
And speaking of courting, a term used before my time, believe it or not, one day my husband, Franklin, out of nowhere popped out with this little ditty, recorded this time on my phone. Too bad I don’t have music to accompany this jingle, but the words speak volumes.
“Don’t start courting in a hot rod, but in a buggy like your mom and dad.
How can you hear those dear sweet words when you can’t hear nothing that’s said. ‘I’d rather hear the clop of old Dobbin‘s feet.’
[and she said, in Franklin’s best high-pitched girl imitation] ‘I’d rather hear glasspacks going down the street.’
Don’t start courting in a hot rod, but in a buggy like your mom and dad.”
If you have a favorite jingle or quote or memory, get it recorded. Lately I’ve been recording my childhood memories, just little voice memos, on my phone. Don’t you wish you had asked more questions on your grandparents?
When we both still had our mothers, I sat down at the computer and typed as each of them at various times told stories of their youth and their young adulthood. These stories are priceless.
Hopefully these memories shared give a glimpse of another era, one that we lived, that the children can appreciate later on.