Sometimes it isn’t until you move out of home that it dawns on you that what has always been normal for your family growing up, isn’t normal for everyone else. It’s not normal at all. Like, do you sing-narrate your life? Do you know what I’m talking about? Like, do you sing ‘Where did you put the TEA towel? The TEA towel? Ohhhhohoh where’s it GONE?’ as you wander about looking for it?
OK, but do your siblings then join in and sing harmonies to your tea towel song and add verses about thinking you put the tea towel in the basket but it’s not there, it’s not there?
And does your mum walk into the room and sing a descant over the top? Does everyone start dancing and/or looking for instruments? Do some of these songs then become regular family jingles? No? Is that not a thing?
CHILDHOOD MEMORIES
And it’s not just the made-up songs. My brothers and sisters have a relish for the songs of our childhood – the daggier the better. Whether it’s the tracks from John Williamson’s Mallee Boy, this one cassette tape that our mum played on repeat every family road trip, or theme music to The Raggy Dolls or some other wholesome TV show (we were only allowed to watch wholesome TV shows. Neighbours was not wholesome. Beverley Hills 90210 was completely off limits). No song is safe from being unearthed and belted out by one of my siblings.
Sometimes we send voice memos to one another: ‘What was this song again? I can only remember this one bar and a couple of lyrics.’ This is quickly followed by long voice memos as siblings respond by singing into their phone in the kitchen or car, providing the ‘Spray and Wipe’ jingle, the second verse of ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’ or the entire theme song to Hangin’ With Mr Cooper.
And church songs. Church songs are a whole thing. Sometimes it’s a search for the most obscure: do you remember ‘We Are Delightful’? ‘If I were a Butterfly’? ‘Welcome to the Family’? ‘Jesus Put the Song in my Heart’? Sometimes it’s a search for the ultimate Catholic banger: ‘Sing of the Lord’s Goodness’? ‘Here, I Am, Lord’? ‘Be Not Afraid’? These all made the list. Don’t judge. The heart wants what it wants. We sing these loudly as we wash dishes at our holiday house.
CHURCH MUSIC
There is something about church music that just worms its way into your psyche. I don’t know what it is. Is it because the hymns are designed to be sung by a group? Is it because they are so firmly anchored in our consciousness, connected with so many major events? These songs, daggy as some of them may seem, make up the soundtrack to our life.
It’s not for everyone. My older brother does not enjoy our lusty renditions of 1980s church tunes. He lives in another country now.
But music is a powerful mnemonic. I’ve learned that the best way to deal with spilt coffee in my car is to sing the word ‘sponge’ over and over again as I arrive home and walk into the house. It’s quite a jaunty tune, even if the lyrics are unvarying. I’m not allowed to stop singing ‘sponge’ until the spill is cleaned. Family members will run up to me with questions that might otherwise distract me from my task. I sing ‘sponge’ at them until they go away, then continue on my path to the kitchen, and then back to the car, singing ‘sponge, sponge, spoooonge, sponge-sponge’ the whole way.
FAMILY CONDITION
My own children are not immune to this condition. Three of them are currently parading around the family room singing an anthem in appreciation of their extensive hair-tie collection. My husband shoots me a deadpan look. ‘They get that from your side of the family.’
Kate Moriarty is a freelance columnist, author and reviewer. Under Kate Solly, her novel Tuesday Evenings with the Copeton Craft Resistance is available now.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES
The soundtrack of Jesus’ life – question and activities
In these teacher’s notes, we learn about key events in Jesus’ life while developing an appreciation of music as a tool for teaching theology.