Today I hummed the tune and created two different versions of the same piece. One with color and one without. I leave it to you to determine which one you like better. The flowers are dried flowers from my garden which I glued to the page very gingerly. I had to wait weeks to let the glue dry in order to letter over it…personally I think the one with color has more personality.
This song I remember singing in Junior High in Chorus. Why we sang this one, I have no idea. It is stuck in my head, and when I read through the family car sing along song book, this one sparked a memory…so here is it!
I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair.
– Stephen Collins Foster
Borne like a vapor on the golden air.
I see her tripping where the bright streams play.
Gay as the flowers along her way.
Many are the fond notes
Her merry voice would pour
Echoed by the birds in the grove o’er and o’er
Ah! I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair.
Be it the flowers, the pleasant memory, or the actual beauty of Jeanie, this song is very sweet and very memorable. It makes me think of a friend I had growing up who lived in the cul-de-sac across from our house. We played together even though she was a couple years older than me. Once she went to junior high our lives went different directions. She will always remain in my mind a beautiful version of Jeanie with the light brown hair. She ended up on the cover of Vogue and became a full time model.
Isn’t life funny in the way that we know people from different times in our lives and then encounter them later. The person we knew has become someone else, and yet somehow we are not surprised. It makes me wonder what people who knew me as a child would think of who and where I am today. And it makes we think about people I have not seen for decades, always hoping they are healthy and living their best lives.
So today, if you have a Jeanie with light brown hair somewhere in your past…think of her fondly and hope that she is well.
