I know I'm showing my age here but I still have shelves full of them from my DJ days and earlier. Most of you know that I have vinyl overload from years of pre-digital existence and in a tentative first step toward organizing it all, I came across this long-lost, long forgotten stuff under a shelf. None of it has seen a needle or a platter since Nixon was sweating out Watergate and the paper sleeves probably disappeared into history long before that.
I don't even remember for certain where they came from or when. I'm only sure they're leftovers from when I was much, much less gray and wrinkly. Some of the titles were familiar so I know they probably got mixed in with all the other working records somewhere along the line. I don't have a clue how they managed to still be with me after all the moves and purges but there they were.
Tucked away in a plain cardboard box among my junk were two stacks of beat up 7-inchers. A few of the names rang bells I haven't heard in longer than I care to think about but one caught me by the ear and gave it a real tug.
Under a layer of dust I could read a title...'Daisy A Day' by Jud Strunk. Why did that one catch my attention? That one in particular...a sort of syrupy minor hit by a long-gone singer. A quick search said it only made #14 on the chart in 1973 and Jud Strunk died in a plane crash in 1981. There was never another song to sing for him. What made that one jump out at me?
In 1973 I would have been...oh let me think...14 years old or so. That would have been early in my farming days. Long before a real first date...way before motorcycles...probably when my only real wish was to get out of school and drive something around a field. The world hadn't gotten to me yet and songs were just songs.
How could I have known that something like that scratchy tune would come back and bring a tear to my eye over 40 years later?
As soon as I saw it, the melody instantly returned. I could remember the chorus. I could hum the tune. And even though it doesn't have a clear memory or picture attached to it, it brought me to a screeching halt.
It's a story of an old man who loved so much that his 'Daisy A Day' didn't end even after the love of his life had gone. It's about believing that not everything is just 'for now'. It's about knowing that all is well and about staying true to the end. And the ending is what gets me...
He remembers the first time he met her
He remembers the first thing she said
He remembers the first time he held her
And the night that she came to his bed
He remembers her sweet way of sayin'
Honey has somethin' gone wrong?
He remembers the fun and the teasin'
And the reason he wrote her this song
I'll give you a daisy a day dear
I'll give you a daisy a day
I'll love you until the rivers run still
And the four winds we know blow away
They would walk down the street in the evenin'
And for years I would see them go by
And their love that was more than the clothes that they wore
Could be seen in the gleam of their eye
As a kid they would take me for candy
And I loved to go taggin' along
We'd hold hands while we walked to the corner
And the old man would sing her his song
I'll give you a daisy a day dear
I'll give you a daisy a day
I'll love you until the rivers run still
And the four winds we know blow away
Now he walks down the street in the evenin'
And he stops by the old candy store
And I somehow believe he's believin'
He's holding her hand like before
For he feels all her love walkin' with him
And he smiles at the things she might say
Then the old man walks up to the hilltop
And gives her a daisy a day
I'll give you a daisy a day dear
I'll give you a daisy a day
I'll love you until the rivers run still
And the four winds we know blow away
It's such a sweet and sad love song you see...but unlike so many, it's not about wanting...it's about lasting. Maybe that's why it made me pause. Such a tiny old tune...a simple little thing that suddenly meant so much.
A silly song in a box that kept an old man awake...thinking about how much his life has changed. Thinking about how lucky he is. Thinking about all that's happened since Jud put those notes down on wax. And finally looking forward again.
I think maybe when the sun finally comes out and the temperature gets above my age, it'll be time to walk hand in hand, buy a neighborhood kid an ice cream cone and sing a couple bars of an old song with my sweetheart. That's what music does for me. That's what love does for me.
I'll give you a daisy a day
I'll love you until the rivers run still
And the four winds we know blow away
Now he walks down the street in the evenin'
And he stops by the old candy store
And I somehow believe he's believin'
He's holding her hand like before
For he feels all her love walkin' with him
And he smiles at the things she might say
Then the old man walks up to the hilltop
And gives her a daisy a day
I'll give you a daisy a day dear
I'll give you a daisy a day
I'll love you until the rivers run still
And the four winds we know blow away
It's such a sweet and sad love song you see...but unlike so many, it's not about wanting...it's about lasting. Maybe that's why it made me pause. Such a tiny old tune...a simple little thing that suddenly meant so much.
A silly song in a box that kept an old man awake...thinking about how much his life has changed. Thinking about how lucky he is. Thinking about all that's happened since Jud put those notes down on wax. And finally looking forward again.
I think maybe when the sun finally comes out and the temperature gets above my age, it'll be time to walk hand in hand, buy a neighborhood kid an ice cream cone and sing a couple bars of an old song with my sweetheart. That's what music does for me. That's what love does for me.
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