Sweet Betsy from Pike & Old Smokey

Today I sang with a group at a small assisted living center. This is a place that is pretty downtrodden with no real activities. So unlike other places that look like 5 star hotels! Anyway, when I said I liked the new furniture they had in the front room one of them said, "it's old." I said, "well, I like old furniture." She looked down as if she was ashamed and then I said I shopped at the Goodwill all the time and get good things. I meant it when I said that I liked the furniture. But to her I think the fact that it was old and used made a statement about where they lived.

At any rate, we had a good time singing today.  At one point one of the ladies asked me if I knew the song, "Sweet Betsy from Pike" and I asked her how it went. She began to sing:

"Oh don't you remember sweet Betsy from Pike,
Who crossed the wide prairie with her lover Ike,
With two yoke of oxen, a big yellow dog,
A tall Shangai rooster, and one spotted hog?"

Then she told me it was about pioneers during the gold rush times in the 1800s. This led to an interesting discussion about how so many American folk songs are about struggle. She was saying how much she liked the song because it was so sad. I rarely have heard anyone say that and I find that I too like sad songs. We said that there are different kinds of sad. There are some that feel comforting that  you can feel that way. Then there are some that feel hopeless and make you want to cry.

She then wanted to sing, "On Top of Old Smokey" something I haven't sang in years. I forgot how it went and so again, she sang it for me:

"On top of Old Smokey
all covered with snow
I lost my true lover
from courting too slow."

I've been singing "On Top of Spaghetti" so many years I forgot the original song!

Then we sang other sad songs, "Down in the Valley." "You Are My Sunshine" (check out the lyrics, that is sad stuff to a happy melody).  "Clementine" is a funny song but to me it is like the blues. It is a song about a situation so bad that it is funny. I remember when I first "got" that that was why the blues felt so good to sing. It is cathartic.

I told them it's like watching a soap opera on TV. You see these people with horrible lives and people are dying and cheating on each other and then we think, "wow! I've got it good!"We laughed about that. I like it when songs can lead to a good discussion and connecting. That's the main point of it, really.

We had such a good time but it all ended on a sour note when  a man who was doing some maintenance in the place walked up to one of the women and grabbed the newspaper out of her hands. Then he proceeded to hit Ms. Caroline 's little dog with it. I guess she was walking under his feet. I said, "that's not right!" and glared at him. I was surprised Ms. Caroline didn't say anything. Instead she scooped up Misty in her arms and held her close.

It's like that in some places. I try to bring good cheer but there are so many other things going on that tip the balance. I actually think most of them didn't even notice the whole dog spanking incident. We kept talking about the music and they all thanked me and asked me when I'd be back.  I guess they are used to the struggles. Maybe that is why those sad songs rang so true for them.