"Hands Up" takes me to Mallorca. We went there every year from when I was 6 to when I was 16, same resort, same hotel, usually the same room (yes, the one with the glass and the tiles...) because they had children's clubs for me. There was also 'entertainment' in the evenings, which was sometimes brilliant and sometimes rubbish. But there was always much dancing, to all the cheesy 80's music that had actions. Whenever I think of people dancing to stuff like that, they're always outside at night, on the patio of the hotel, with the sea in the distance behind them, close enough that I can smell the salt and the heat of the day
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That sounds like a lovely tradition, and a nice little twist on the tradition for your new family.
Our family took vacations when we were kids, but we usually didn't go to the same place twice -- no summer cabins or campgrounds or favorite hotels or anything.
"Hands Up" definitely reminds me of camp, but most other '80s & '90s dance hits like "YMCA" send me back to after-parties at bar/bat mitzvahs, sweet sixteens and school dances. Ick. *g*
I was in a gimp-preschool (preschool/therapy combo pack) which they threw me out of for being too smart and hogging all the questions from the other children. :-) I also couldn't walk unassisted until I was five, and because I was less trouble than some of the other children, I occasionally got lost in the shuffle when they were dealing with crises. During one of these times, I pushed a chair up to the water play table, climbed on top of it, then climbed into the water play table with all of my clothes on. My mother has pictures - and the director of the preschool kept one in her office until she retired. :-)
What was in the water play table? (It makes me think of those hands-on displays at aquariums where you can play with starfish and sea sponges and things, but I'm sure that's not what you had in a classroom with young children.)
Oh, just bath toys: cups, small pitchers, boats, floaty animals, that kind of stuff. I want to say there might have been a little water wheel, but I could be wrong about that.
I keep thinking I've told this story before, but I scanned last year's entries and I didn't see it. So apologies if I'm repeating myself from elsewhere :)
Singing was a big part of my primary school (K-4). We sang every day in class, and at assemblies (I suppose that was our music programme, since we didn't learn instruments). When I was in Grade 4, someone came up with the idea to make a record. Each class had their own song, and there were school-wide songs (the ones I remember for sure are "Two Little Boys," "Teddy Bear's Picnic," "Ugly Duckling"). We did recording sessions in the gym over what seemed like weeks and at the end we had an actual record - I still have my copy somewhere.
My class's song was "Mountain Dew." I'm not sure why they thought it was appropriate for nine-year-olds to sing about bootlegging, but we loved it! We'd finish each chorus by shouting "Ya-hoo!" as loudly as we could (which I'm sure was delightful for the other teachers), and we were convinced that we shouted so loudly that we'd made cracks in the
"I'm not sure why they thought it was appropriate for nine-year-olds to sing about bootlegging..."
Singing about bootlegging is never wrong!
I was watching a program on The History Channel the other day and it featured an elderly moonshiner by the unlikely name of Popcorn Sutton. He said things like, "I tell people, if they wanna know about the liquor laws, just ask me. Simply because ... if there is one ... I broke it" and he danced a lively little jig at one point even though he was about a million years old. I kind of want to roleplay him. He'd make a great character.
Re: raaaaaaaandom!mer_duffJanuary 17 2008, 02:06:31 UTC
I dated a guy in university whose grandfather had been a rum-runner to the States during Prohibition. I can't remember why it came up in English class, but everyone was very impressed, even the professor...
Funny, not all that long ago some old summer camp songs popped into my head and I posted lyrics for my flist. My favorites were always the ones with a bit of a gross-out factor. I remember dreading singalong time because the camp I went to was completely overrun with girls who thought we should sing Kumbaya or whatever ALL NIGHT LONG as a FOUR HUNDRED AND SIXTY-TWO PART ROUND. Dude, all I really wanted to sing about was gopher guts and swallowing worms with your soda. Screw that "Make new friends but keep the old" crap. XD
Nobody loved that song like me. After the "and I forgot my spoon" line, I always belted out, "BUT I GOT MY FOOOOOOOOOOOORK!" All by myself. Because nobody else thought it was as funny as I did. ALAS.
I didn't hear "Cat's in the Cradle" till my freshman year of college. Wow. Does it make me really dippy to admit I think it's a really sad song?
I was in pre-school from ages two and a half to four, and somewhere in there I remember I won an award for being the best spaghetti-twirler. I actually remember quite a bit from those years, now that I think about it. And I used to draw pictures (fanart?) of the kids in my class in all these different scenarios, like having parties in the jungle or something. This kept on through elementary school. Always a geek. =)
*g* I am as impressed by your school having an award for best spaghetti-twirler as I am that you won it.
It is a very sad song, though, isn't it? It's about not taking advantage of the time we have with our parents and/or children. I mean, it's a message to take advantage of it, so in that sense it's hopeful, but the story it's telling is much sadder.
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Our family took vacations when we were kids, but we usually didn't go to the same place twice -- no summer cabins or campgrounds or favorite hotels or anything.
"Hands Up" definitely reminds me of camp, but most other '80s & '90s dance hits like "YMCA" send me back to after-parties at bar/bat mitzvahs, sweet sixteens and school dances. Ick. *g*
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What was in the water play table? (It makes me think of those hands-on displays at aquariums where you can play with starfish and sea sponges and things, but I'm sure that's not what you had in a classroom with young children.)
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I have this weird little almost-memory of something similar in some classroom sometime that is trying to surface since you've brought this up.
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Singing was a big part of my primary school (K-4). We sang every day in class, and at assemblies (I suppose that was our music programme, since we didn't learn instruments). When I was in Grade 4, someone came up with the idea to make a record. Each class had their own song, and there were school-wide songs (the ones I remember for sure are "Two Little Boys," "Teddy Bear's Picnic," "Ugly Duckling"). We did recording sessions in the gym over what seemed like weeks and at the end we had an actual record - I still have my copy somewhere.
My class's song was "Mountain Dew." I'm not sure why they thought it was appropriate for nine-year-olds to sing about bootlegging, but we loved it! We'd finish each chorus by shouting "Ya-hoo!" as loudly as we could (which I'm sure was delightful for the other teachers), and we were convinced that we shouted so loudly that we'd made cracks in the
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Singing about bootlegging is never wrong!
I was watching a program on The History Channel the other day and it featured an elderly moonshiner by the unlikely name of Popcorn Sutton. He said things like, "I tell people, if they wanna know about the liquor laws, just ask me. Simply because ... if there is one ... I broke it" and he danced a lively little jig at one point even though he was about a million years old. I kind of want to roleplay him. He'd make a great character.
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OMG! Had no recollection of that song until just now!
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I was in pre-school from ages two and a half to four, and somewhere in there I remember I won an award for being the best spaghetti-twirler. I actually remember quite a bit from those years, now that I think about it. And I used to draw pictures (fanart?) of the kids in my class in all these different scenarios, like having parties in the jungle or something. This kept on through elementary school. Always a geek. =)
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It is a very sad song, though, isn't it? It's about not taking advantage of the time we have with our parents and/or children. I mean, it's a message to take advantage of it, so in that sense it's hopeful, but the story it's telling is much sadder.
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