THE HITS I DIDN’T SING [M, 5-24-21]

 

CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith & Life for the Years of Winter

THE HITS I DIDN’T SING   [M, 5-24-21]

 

Being totally blind in one eye, and almost blind in the other, listening to country music was one of my father’s major pleasures. He especially enjoyed the raucous voice of the four-foot nine-inch Brenda Lee.

Late in his life I discovered that she was going to perform at a venue only fifty miles from where he lived, so Helen and I loaded up Mother and Dad and drove to…I think it was called “The Little Nashville Opry,” in Nashville, Indiana, a play on the name of “The Grand Ole Opry” of Nashville, Tennessee.

It was a great success. Dad loved it. Mother was okay with it. And I was fascinated with Brenda Lee’s song list, for she started the show with a medley of “The Hits I Didn’t Sing.” It was all the songs that she had turned down which became huge hits for other singers, starting with “Rose Garden,” which rocketed Lynn Anderson to fame. As the band segued from one song to another, Brenda would shrug her shoulders and spread out her short arms in one of those “who coulda known” gestures.

When we went to that concert, she had been a major singer for over thirty years, with a long list of gold records, so she was secure enough to admit that she had made some stupid mistakes in her song selections. After all, she also had plenty of major successes, like “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and “I’m Sorry.”

I’ve thought about that ever since. What were the big hits I didn’t sing? At least, not often enough.

“I Believe? “Ain’t Gonna Grieve my Lord Anymore?” “Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross?” “Lift Every Voice and Sing?” “Are Ye Able?” “Higher Ground?” “Revive Us Again?” “They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love?” “Just a Closer Walk with Thee?” “I Shall Not Be Moved?” “This Little Light of Mine?” “Standing in the Need of Prayer?”  

I’m not sure I’m as emotionally tall as Brenda Lee. I don’t feel very comfortable tallying up the hits I didn’t sing. I think I’ll stick with those that were winners for me, like “Amazing Grace” and “Balm in Gilead.” And one of these days, “I’ll Fly Away.”

John Robert McFarland