They Probably Would Have Kicked Us Out of Austria
What is the Sound of Music, really?
Is it a song on the radio that skips over half the words because they are “inappropriate”, or your dog barking in his pen outside nonstop because he knows you are in the bathroom at the back of the house and he wants your attention NOW, or your daughter belting out “Do Re Mi” 100 times an hour?
Our daughter, Dimples, has moved from her Mary Poppins obsession to a Sound of Music one. She has gone from singing a declaration of women’s rights with “Sister Suffragette” to begging a boy to take care of her in “I am Sixteen Going on Seventeen.”
Her voice is not bad, so I don’t mind the singing. But the repetition may kill me. Although I was able to giggle a little when she loudly sang, as part of Edelweiss, “Bless my hometown forever” instead of “Bless my homeland forever.” Something about singing an homage to San Antonio, Texas, makes the whole song a lot less poignant.
Our entire family has taken to humming random pieces of the score as we wander around the house. Sometimes, we run into each other in the kitchen or hallway and happen to be humming the same tune, so we break out into song together. O.K. Maybe that’s just Dimples and me.
We are such dorks.
I was like Dimples as a child, discovering new music that I would then wear out by replaying and singing along to until I found a replacement. I used to get angry with my father who, when I started singing in the back of the car, would turn the radio volume up to drown me out.
The other day, Dimples started singing along in the back of car as I drove, and I reflexively leaned over to turn the radio volume up. I froze. What the heck was I doing? And then I realized, I wasn’t trying to drown her out. I wanted her to be a part of the song as though it were a duet. And I even joined as a backup singer in the parts that I knew. That made me feel better about my dad’s radio blaring commentaries.
Until I remembered that when I was a kid, I was never singing the songs that were playing on the radio at the moment. Just my own repertoire of “How Much is that Doggie in the Window” and “Que Sera, Sera?” So, I’m pretty sure my dad was trying to send a not-so-subtle message about my repetitive serenades from the back seat whenever he cranked that dial to the right.
It’s clear to me that Dimples and I were meant to be born to the Von Trapp family, to live out lyrical lives of harmony and happy endings.
My dear husband, Cap’n Firepants, is our own Captain Von Trapp, slightly charmed by our impromptu concerts in the kitchen, but mortified at the thought of us performing in public. I can’t imagine what he’s so worried about. I was in the All State choir back in the day.
Dimples is alive with the sound of music
With songs she has sung for a thousand hours
Dimples fills my heart with the sound of music
Even when she’s not taking showers.
My heart wants to dance when she plays Kinect
On a gloomy winter day.
My heart wants to sigh when she has to correct
Every word that I say,
To laugh like a girl when she trips
And falls over dogs on the floor
Who bark through the night
Or knock down the walls with a snore.
I live in our house, and I’m never lonely
I know I will hear what I heard before
Again and again and again there’s the sound of music
And we’ll sing once more.
Posted on January 2, 2012, in Cap'n Firepants, Children, Dimples, Family, Humor, Parenting and tagged Cap'n Firepants, children, Dimples, humor, Julie Andrews, Sound of Music, Von Trapp. Bookmark the permalink. 43 Comments.
Hahaha! Next time you will have to include a Youtube video!
I enjoyed this hilarious post-
OMG! Trust me, you wouldn’t want to deal with that nightmare video!
Haha! Cute post!!
Thank you!
My daughter loves the Sound of Music! My favorite song is SOMETHING GOOD. It reminds me of someone special.
You are so unpredictable! I don’t think that’s the song I would have picked for you!
annnddd now Sound Of Music is stuck in my head.
Well, at least it;s replaced the Do They Know It’s Christmas loop that had been there…
You’re welcome!
lovely post and nice song writing/modifying. sooooo much kinder than my parenting. i *might* have said on occasion when listening to my kids sing the same song 1000 times, “i wish you were on the radio…..so i could turn you down.” ack.
Is that where the Maroon 5/Gym Class Heroes song, Stereo Hearts, came from? 😉
Ah,
My wife and kids love this movie and sing along with it and for days sing the songs. Its fun, but then the collies join in and then Laddie protests and well… LOL
Great post!
Collie Hugs from
The Collies 🙂
God Bless You!
Chuck and the Collies 🙂
Sounds like the makings of a new musical! I bet it would be grand!
You know they have those sing-a-long showings of “The Sound of Music” at selected theaters…
I definitely need to be on the lookout for one in our neck of the woods. Thanks for the tip!
I remember playing the album from “Flower Drum Song” over and over. Not one of Rodger and Hammerstein’s better efforts. I must have driven everyone pretty crazy with “I Adore Being a Girl.”
I can’t believe there is an R&H musical I haven’t seen or heard! I will have to check that one out!
Very cute post! i can’t wait to introduce my kids to The Sound of Music- because I love the movie. Jason however doesn’t care for it, so I don’t see him ever being our Captain Von Trapp.
I’m sure he will grow to love it once he’s heard it five million jillion times…
I am with you all the way on the singing … almost. Due to my sister wearing out 3 vhs copies, AND watching it EVERY Christmas, I completely abhor the Sound of Music. I will however sing with Tori and What’shisname since the wife and I sing karaoke and just sing in general all the time.
That is so cool! I should have asked the Cap’n before we got married if he was willing to karaoke with me but, alas, that was one thing I forgot to check.
I love the new words to the song.
So does Dimples. I am worried she is going to forget the real words for her choir concert!
Loving and laughing to your new words…thanks!
What can I say? Dimples inspires me 🙂
Hahahahaha! I can imagine you singing the song you made up and I can imagine me reaching for the radio! 🙂
At this point in my singing career, I think you would be reaching for something far stronger than the volume on the radio – like a sledgehammer.
I loved reading this. Great writing and there is such joy in music and song. When the Sound of Music first came out on film my oldest sister took all of us to see it. Then for weeks she lined us up on the back porch like the Von Trapps and forced us to practice those songs over and over again. She then charged all the neighbors a quarter a piece to see our show! Recently, one of my other sisters and I went to the Sound of Music sing-a-long at the local theater and proclaimed our loud and off-key joy at reliving the memory.
Gosh, that totally brings back memories of the ridiculous shows we would perform when we were little for our relatives. I must be way older or way less talented than you because we only charged a penny for ours!
Love it. I was first obsessed with Mary Poppins then Sound of Music. Playing and singing the same songs over and over until you hate them, or at least need a break is normal. I do it every time I purchase something from iTunes. I let it sit for a week or two, forget about it, and then repeat.
I do that with iTunes, too. Then, a year or two later, I come across an old playlist, and start replaying it over and over again until everyone wants to gag. Or, worse, I forget that I ever downloaded it, and try to buy it again.
LOVE The Sound of Music! My youngest is a singer, also. Although he mostly only serenades himself in the bathroom. A remnant of potty training gone horribly awry.
The bathroom has the absolute best acoustics. There, everyone is a star.
We love this post. We think a singing family is a happy family. Keep on singing! Hugs and nose kisses
We’ll try. But a paying audience would definitely be motivational.
This is great! My mom and I share a love of singing as well and over the years we’ve actually ended up performing duets together. You never know…. Love your version of The Sound of Music!
I always dreamed that we would be the next Wynona and Naomi. Except not country music. I don’t have that kind of range.
Sure you do – just throw in the words Truck, Mom, Gun, Horse, and sing the chorus through your nose.
Don’t Prison and Train have to be in there? Or is that only David Allan Coe songs?
Prison is optional, depending on how personal and autobiographical you want the song to be.
I remember an old spoof went
It was rainin’ the /night my momma got out of prison/
So I drove my truck/to the depot/ to meet her train
I didn’t know it was a spoof until they said so after the song…
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