Tag Archives: Singing

The Dementia Dossier: Four-Leaf Clovers

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I'm Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover", 1927 Vintage Sheet Music, Bob Smith Cover. Mort Dixon, Harry Woods. Remick Music Corporation. Music Ephemera and History: Mort Dixon (lyric), Harry Woods (music): Amazon.com:

My date and I sat on the sofa with a sibling and a nephew wondering how to spend the evening, whether to watch a movie or play a game or just talk. “We could sing songs!” Mom piped up. “Do you know ‘I’m Looking Over a Four-leaf Clover’?” And she launched into the 1927 song with the unsteady tin of old voice:

I’m looking over a four-leaf clover that I overlooked before.
One leaf is sunshine the other is rain. Third is the roses that grow in the lane.
No need explaining the one remaining is somebody I adore.
I’m looking over a four-leaf clover that I overlooked before.

At first, I felt mortified, but my date knows and loves my mother and didn’t mind the cute oddity. I even found myself joining in, since I, too, know the old song. Still, I felt relieved when the verse ended. We quickly moved to casting family photos to the TV. When I voiced a frustration that I couldn’t manipulate the casted photos from my “Samsung,” Mom brightened: “You want to sing more songs?”

Courage at Twilight: Here We Come A-Caroling

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“Can we come around 7:00?” she asked.  “That would be lovely,” I answered.  And they came, on a very cold Tuesday night, a small group of church youth with their leaders—two young women and two young men.  “Merry Christmas!” they cheered.  Mom and Dad brought them into the living room, where the group sat visiting on the sofas.  The leaders sparked up a Christmas carol, and the youth sang in shy murmurs.  Until Mom joined, that is.  Though the youth came to serenade her, she jumped right in with her cheerful choral charisma and had the small group singing enthusiastically.  After half-an-hour of caroling, the group called again, “Merry Christmas!” and filed out the door, Mom and Dad waving, everyone happier for the visit.  “We had so much fun,” Mom beamed when I came home late from work.  The youth left a beautiful gift basket with a poinsettia, various fruits, a loaf of Great Harvest cinnamon-raisin bread, Stephen’s mint truffle hot cocoa mix, and two pair of warm winter socks.

Little Baby (Lullaby)

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Brian, my firstborn, suffered typical colic from about six weeks to about six months of age, always beginning at 6:00 p.m., it seemed.  A second year law student (and struggling with the stresses of law school), I frequently paced the living room floor trying to sooth the crying baby with gentle bounces, soft shushes, coos, and random soft melodies.  In Brian’s moments of calm slumber, I looked on his beautiful face and felt overcome with feelings of love, peace, beauty, and gratitude.  In these serene moments I began to compose a lullaby, metered to the my rocking arms.  Although Brian is now a 6-foot-4 24-year-old, I think of his once tiny form every time I sing this song.  Here it is for you to enjoy.  While I have titled it “Little Brian Baby” in my own book of music, for you I have titled it simply “Little Baby” and have added brackets in the lyrics indicating where you can insert the name of your child or grandchild as you sing. Enjoy this lullaby as you rock your precious little ones to sleep.  (To see the score, click on the link below.)

Little Baby