I haven’t mentioned my Uncle Dick for a while, but he returned to mind this week in a circuitous route. As I have mentioned in past messages Dick loved a good joke, most of them were a bit on the bawdy side but he also had a fondness for the shaggy dog story. The jokes were never told in identical fashion as he wrote the punch lines on adding machine tape in his wallet and he would read his notes and ad lib the rest. One joke I cannot forget was titled Pardon me Roy. As I recall Dale Evans and Roy Rogers were sitting in the living room of their beautiful country home looking out over the desert and they saw a beautiful mountain lion. Roy had been out riding his famous horse, Trigger earlier in the day. As he rode under a large rock outcropping a huge desert cat appeared and pounced on Roy – knocking him from the horse. The cougar proceeded to gnaw voraciously at Roy’s new boots. Finally, the animal tired of his attack and wandered away leaving Roy unharmed. Roy went home and told Dale his unusual tale. As they watched the cougar from the safety of their home Dale said to Roy, Pardon me Roy, is that the cat that chewed your new shoes? Hilarious, amirite? It helps if you understand the punch line – it is repeated in the harmony of the 1941 Mack Gordon song, Chattanooga Choo Choo. A bit of trivia, the song won a gold record with its feature in the movie, Sun Valley Serenade.
Hank and I were playing golf on Mother’s Day with his mother. Megan said it was all she wanted from him on her special day. Hank doesn’t love golf, but being a good sport he participated. As we reached the sixth hole, there was a huge tumbleweed in the fairway. You see Hank behind the object. We wondered – what is a tumbleweed and what is its purpose? The first thing that entered my mind was the famous country song of the same name. As I started singing the lyrics I remembered, Hank asked that I please stop. So that is how I was reminded of Uncle Dick.
I listened to various versions of the song, one of the most famous is performed by the Sons of the Pioneers, accompanied by Roy Rogers. My friend Frac would tell me this is yet another example of my stream of conscientiousness thought process. The song was written in the early 1930s by Bob Nolan – a Canadian rail rider who was working in Los Angeles as a caddy. The song was followed by another Nolan hit titled “Clear Water”, also a Son of the Pioneer’s chart topper. The songs were symbolic of the Great Depression era.
“See them tumbling down,
Pledging their love to the ground,
Lonely, but free, I’ll be found
Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds….
I know when night is gone
That a new world’s born at dawn!”
You catch the drift, like the plant that is intended to roll with the wind and assure a new beginning for the species—so goes life.
Those of us who are fortunate to be vaccinated no longer need to wear a mask. Wish everyone was wise enough to follow the science and the truth. Enjoy the week end. Mike