Papa's Songs
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Papa was born in Los Angeles in 1920 and he and his two younger sisters were raised by a single mom during the Depression. It was a hard way to grow up being so poor; there was no money, not even pennies to spend on pleasure. Because times were hard and he loved to read, the public library was good to him. He read all he could get his hands on. Papa was a good student but there was no music in his life at that time, no radio, record player or musical instrument. In the late thirties when my father was in his late teens, his mother remarried a truck driver named Wally. Life became easier because of more money, and with it came a new home and new experiences . Papa would ride with Wally and Wally’s friend, Buck Elmore in the ore trucks, going from the mines in the Owens Valley to refineries in Los Angeles. Uncle Buck, as the family called him, was raising a young family and loved to sing. It was Uncle Buck who taught Papa most of the childrens’ songs that were passed down to me and my brother. Radio and phonographs were just becoming popular. Uncle Buck and Papa would sing the latest songs on the hit-parade. Where did Uncle Buck get the rest of the songs he sang? We don’t really know! |
| I believe the songs came from early radio programs and from other desert truck drivers. There were nights that the truck drivers chose to spend out on the desert around camp fires, eating beans or meat if they could get it. Papa told about a group of drivers who killed a wild burro and cooked it, which really bothered him so much that he would not eat it until he just got too hungry. Papa loved the singing and the comradery that went on around those desert campfires. This life on the desert was a cheap way to live as the men would not have to waste gas to come home every night, plus they cooked and ate what they could get. They did not spend money on drinks, bars or motels, just bed rolls on the sand, big camp fires and comrades for the evenings. Papa always loved all this because most of his youth was spent working or trying to obtain food. This was the good family life he had missed. The desert became a place he loved until he died, and he taught my mother, my brother, and me to see the beauty, freedom and fun that could be obtained there. |  |
| Papa’s family moved to Bishop after Papa graduated from High School in Long Beach. He began driving ore trucks with Wally and Uncle Buck and met my mother who had always lived in Bishop. Most of their courting was in the cab of an ore truck and Papa sang songs to his best girl. Papa had never had a musical instrument in his home or played in the school band. There was never money or time for such, but he had a gift of music. He could hear a tune, whistle it a little while, and he knew the tune. He learned to play a harmonia from Uncle Buck on those long desert rides, and all of my life, he sang or played, whatever new song he heard. I grew up with him singing songs like: Froggy Went A’Courtin’, Billy Boy, Johnny Rebeck, The Gay Caberallo, My Grandfather’s Clock, Ol’ Shep, Your sweethearts waits for your Jack (that one always made me cry), and my mother’s favorite, Make Room in Your Heart for a Friend and oh, so many more. I just could not list all the songs he enjoyed. |
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In 1941, Papa joined the Navy Sea Bees and my mom followed him to Providence, Rhode Island where he was stationed before shipping out. They were married on a three-day pass and he went off to the South Pacific for the duration of WWII and Mom returned to Bishop. When he came home after the war I was born the following October and two years later my brother came along. Our home was good, not much money but I always ate and Papa would read or sing to us in the evenings. He saw that I got one of the first record players in the neighborhood and music was always in my home. I’m not sure my mom liked it, but I always had a radio or records going. I still have music on all the time. One time I remember Papa found a big roll of speaker wire. He scrounged up some used hi-fi speakers, and he and I put wire all over the house and yard. We had the only house in the neighborhood that had speakers in the garden, barn, and yard, and most every room in the house. Mom would say it took us longer to pick out “just the right” records to play, then it took us to get the chores done. |
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One of my fondest memories were of weekends when we would go “boondoggin.’ We would ride around in the desert looking at old mines and seeing just where the road went, or we looked for good pinenut trees, just driving around without any place in particular to go. Gas was cheap then and this became our main family entertainment. We were all together, we took our lunch, usually hot-dogs, potato salad and chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Papa always sang and took his harmonia along. Some of the special songs he sang are on this web site. Another thing Papa liked to do was sing certain groups of songs. For example, he would sing all the songs he knew with women’s names: Good Night Irene, Pretty Mickey, Wake Up Little Suzie, All Day, All Night, Mary Ann and of course Peg of My Heart. Some times it would be towns: Chicago, Chicago, Take Me Back To Tulsa, New York, New York, Met Me In Saint Louis, this would go on and on. He would pick songs of similar subjects and see how many he could remember, and we’d even jump in and suggest a few. He did cattle songs, Indian songs, moon songs, train songs, animal songs, he had lots of them. All of this was great fun for us. The memories are very strong of those days on the desert and the music. I have done my best to pass the songs and the simple life onto my children. I hope these web pages will bring back some memories and fun to others. |
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Peggy Whipple