On a rather gloomy, chilly Monday, I decided to look for some bright events to commemorate on this January 13th; but all I came up with were these three:

Korean American Day: A celebration of the first arrival of Korean immigrants to the United States, and of the continuing contributions of the 1.8 million present-day Americans of Korean descent to our culture and society. A very nice honorific for a great segment of the American population, and the continuing success of our legal immigration program.

Mahayana New Year: This was completely new to me. It turns out to be the celebration of the New Year for all of the folks out there who adhere to the Buddhist faith; so . . . Happy New Year!

And finally:

Stephen Foster Memorial Day: I’m not sure why this date was chosen to memorialize Mr. Foster, as he was born on July 4, 1826, and died — at the tender age of 37 — on January 13, 1864. But here it is, for whatever reason, on January 13th.

In any event, it seems fitting to pay tribute to the man known as “the father of American music,” who after a century and a half, is still remembered for such classics as Oh! Susanna, Camptown Races, Old Folks At Home (Swanee River), My Old Kentucky Home, Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair, and Beautiful Dreamer.

And let us not forget the immortal Old Black Joe.

Well . . . nobody’s perfect.

And to prove it, he also left, as part of his legacy of around 200 songs, a number we’ve likely never heard . . . and that I, for one, would rather not. But judge for yourselves from some titles:

Bury Me in the Morning, Mother
Don’t Bet Your Money on de Shanghai
The Great Baby Show
I Would Not Die in Spring Time
I Would Not Die in Summer Time [Okay, that leaves fall and winter]
If You’ve Only Got a Moustache
Little Mac! Little Mac! You’re the Very Man
My Wife is a Most Knowing Woman
Parthenia to Ingomar [A Greek-Swedish love letter, perhaps?]
Poor Drooping Maiden [Um . . . ]
A Soldier in de Colored Brigade [Different times, indeed]
What Must a Fairy’s Dream Be [Your guess is as good as mine]

And so on. There were, of course, a great many songs about the Civil War (1861-65), a number of romantic ballads, and enough homages to his mother to keep Sigmund Freud happy for quite a while.

A most prolific songster, was Mr. Foster. And so — no matter how corny his work may sound to us now — we salute him for being the first to reach No. 1 on the Hit Parade.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/13/25