My Dad's Piano and Music

One day in 1996, before my parents moved to Carlisle, when I visited them, Dad talked to me about his interest in music, and I took notes.  Now I have them to remind me of this conversation.

He took piano lessons from Lorraine Schaeffer, and then she got married.  My dad went to her wedding and said that Pearl Stuart played for the wedding.  He continued to take lesson for four years after Lorraine was married. 

He practiced on a big, upright piano, that they kept in the living room.  It was a piano that beloned to Carl Allen, Sr's mother.  Carl Allen married my dad's older sister, Minerva, who was considerably older than he.  In 1930, his parents bought it for $125.  They bought it especially so that he could take lessons. Since they didn't have very much money, it showed Dad how much his parents loved him.

It was a player piano and had many rolls of music for it that had come along with the piano.  Out of all the songs they had, their favorite was In a Little Spanish Town.  They must have had the written words that went along with the piano rolls because they played and sang this song a lot.  Dad still knew many of the words to the song.  One phrase goes, I whispered "Be true to me," and she sighed, "Si, si."  Dad said that at that time no one in their family knew Spanish and they pronounced "si, si" as "sigh, sigh."  He said, "Now I know it's Spanish and it means yes." He probably sang the song to me and I wrote it down quickly. 

Today I looked up the words to the song on the Internet.  Here they are.

In a Little Spanish Town

In a little Spanish town
It was on a night like this
Stars were peek-a-boo-ing down
It was on a night like this
I whispered ’Be true to me’
And she sighed ’Si Si’

Many skies have turned to gray
Because we’re far apart
Many moons have passed away
And still she’s in my heart
We made a promise and sealed it with a kiss
In a little Spanish town
It was on a night like this

I whispered ’Be true to me’
And she sighed ’Si Si’

We made a promise and sealed it with a kiss
In a little Spanish town
It was on a night like this
In a little Spanish town
It was on a night like this

What I found on the Internet was the same as what Dad told me about.  Dad was 81 when he related this memory to me.  I don't recall hearing him sing that song before but he remembered it perfectly after all those years.

Posted by: NJ on 2/18/2006 9:00:50 AM , 1 comments