Silly Songs

We recently passed the ten year anniversary of my Dad's passing, and he's been in my thoughts a lot lately.  My sister was talking about some of her favorite Sunday dinners that Dad cooked, and some of the lakefront and backyard bar b ques in the summer that we all enjoyed.  Then my cousin brought up another favorite memory, the silly songs he sang to us when we were kids.

You may recall from an earlier post that my Dad was a musician; he loved to entertain us, or maybe we just bugged him until he gave in.  There may have been more, but the three favorite songs brought smiles and giggles to children in our family for years.  Now with the help of the internet, I'll share them with you.


1) Honkety Hank - not sure Dad knew the whole song, but his sound effects made the tune.  I found out this song was written in 1949 by Pinto Colvig, who was the original voice of Bozo the Clown. Here's some of the lyrics:
Young Honkety Hank, a mechanical boy
Built himself the silliest toy
An automobile that went when he run it
The neighbors all said that he shouldn't o' done it.

The poofiest car that a kid ever built
All painted and patched like an old crazy quilt
'Twas made out of boxes and tin cans and such
That didn't have even a brake or a clutch.

'Twould jiggle and twiggle and wiggle and giggle
And mutter and sputter and flutter
Would cough and sneeze and and wheeze
Down the street with a terrible clutter.

That old hunk-a-junk would make anyone laugh
The motor inside was an old phonograph
The wheels were wobbly and bubblegum tires
And all would every time it backfired.

2) The Unicorn Song - Sung in Dad's best Irish accent, this song by The Irish Rovers was a top 10 hit in1968 and is still popular in Irish pubs today

3) My Mule Charley - this was my personal favorite, sorry couldn't find the lyrics but did find an audio snippet.
My Mule Charley
The rest of the song involves a trip to town to buy a horn, Charley getting into the shop and greats sound effects and a glockenspiel. It ended in a rousing rendition of "Oh Susana!"

So these are the songs that we all have such fond memories of, thanks Dad!  Hope the family enjoys this and maybe shares with the next generation of Connell kids.

Weekend Report #2

When the reality of my ALS diagnosis set in last year, I was encouraged to consider doing some of the things on my "bucket list" while I was able to enjoy myself.  Last year our church had done a series on 30 Days To Live, and we had discussed the topic at length with our home group.  Tim McGraw's song talks about skydiving, mountain climbing and bull riding, but these held little interest for me; I wanted to spend as much time as possible with my family and friends.

So at the beginning of the year when we began planning for Jazz Fest, I invited my college fraternity  brothers and little sisters to stop putting off that reunion we'd been talking about for so long and make the trip to New Orleans this year since I don't know how many more I'll be able to attend.  The response from so many far away friends was overwhelming and we gathered on Friday to reconnect, drink a few beers and share some memories.  The corner of  Broadway and Zimple was special to these Tulane Alumni for two reasons: the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house and The Boot.  New Orleans is one of the few places where you can find a bar filled with a mixed crowd of college kids and 50 somethings at noon on a Friday and no one thinks it's unusual.

As I was wheeled into the bar where I'm sure I should have been wheeled out many times in my college days, it was all I could do not to tear up as I saw my friends waiting to greet me.  Thank you for making the trip and thanks to the spouses who allowed you to be away from home on Mother's Day.  Here's the group > Pat and Kim from Pittsburgh, Donna Jo from Orlando, John from New Jersey, Ben from Atlanta, Greg from Houston, Stacey from Savannah and Des from Jax as well as Jon and Maite who live in Nola.  The only thing that put a damper on the day was news that our old frat house was soon to be demolished. That brought back memories of room mates, Babe's spoon, and the great theme parties like Heaven n Hell night, the New Jersey Saturate and the Miami Beach Party with the truckload of sand filling the bottom floor.  Before heading off to Mandina's for shrimp, oyster and roast beef po boys we trekked across the street for a final visit to the house.  As the gang headed out for a night in the Quarter, I headed in to rest up for the next two days at Jazz Fest.  Here's the way the story of Pike house ended, thanks to all for making special memories!