Bill Anderson

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Admin

Bill Anderson wrote: Mama sang a song

In Salisbury I heard this song by Bill Anderson called: “Mama sang a song.” I really loved this song, and sang it all over Southern Africa. At the time I was very sentimental regarding my parents, and so I related strongly to this song. My mother used to sing all the time, and my father used to tell us Bible stories. My dad was the one who bought our first guitar, and who taught me how to play it. Both my parents have passed on now.

The Touch of the Master’s Hand

I have always loved this song about the old violin. When I was a teenager I was always looking at the auction place and the second hand shops to try and get bargains on musical instruments. I bought a violin and a car from an auction place. Other things I bought were a six sided mouth organ, a piano, a piano accordian, a set of drums and various guitars. I like Bill Anderson’s version of this song.

Deck of cards

I have heard other singers do this song, but here is Bill’s version. There is something so appealing about this song of a soldier in the desert, deprived of the luxuries of life. I have been on the borders of my home country on military duty, so I know the feeling. I read a book on Bob Hope. When he was in the desert entertaining the troops in North Africa, he got shot at in the jeep, so he jumped out, and twisted his ankle. When the medic was attending to him, he seemed very nervous, and Bob asked him if he had been to medical school. The guy replied that when he got drafted, he had to put on the paper where he had worked before, and he wrote: “Dr. Pepper.” So they put him in the medical section!

I’ve enjoyed as much of this as I can stand

One of my favorite love songs is: “I’ve enjoyed as much of this as I can stand,” and I think it was written by Bill Anderson. However, I heard it in Africa by Jim Reeves. Here is Porter Wagoner doing it.

Still

I have heard this song on the classic country radio station from Buffalo.

I also have a Gospel web site. If you want to check it out, go to:  http://countrygospelandbible.com/

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Favourite Love Songs by The Beatles

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Admin

Chains

The Beatles sang and wrote a lot of love songs, so I am sharing some of my favourites. When I was a teenager, the Fab Four were the rage, but I was into Jim Reeves’ music at the time. I remember singing at a girl’s school to help them raise funds for a swimming pool, and I happened to sing a song I heard them sing called: “Chains.” When I sung that song the girls started screaming. There was about 2 or 3 hundred of them. Years later I realized that if I had sung more of their songs, I may have been more popular.

Just 17 – My favourite love song by The Beatles

One day while walking near a hotel I heard the song “Just 17″ (I saw her standing there), and it sounded so good, but I couldn’t make the same music with just one guitar, so I didn’t bother trying. Those guys are good song writers, singers and musicians.

Paperback Writer

When I was 20, I was in hospital with a cracked spine, and I heard a song over the hospital speakers called: “Paperback writer.” I really loved the harmony on that song, and the lead guitar playing. I am not sure about some of the words, but sometimes when I sang songs I would change the words to suit myself.

On a personal note here, when I was in that hospital, someone smuggled my guitar in and put it under my bed. I couldn’t move, and had to lie flat on my back. The people told me that the matron was a real battle-axe, and if she saw the guitar, she would confiscate it. One day the cleaner took the guitar out while he cleaned the floor, and had it in full view of everyone. Then the matron came in. I was shocked. I thought I would never see my guitar again. To my surprise she said: “Oh a banjo. Won’t you play it for me?” So she handed me the guitar and I sang for her. She was my biggest fan! When they wheeled me out of the hospital she was running behind the wheelchair saying, “Sing me one more song!” My favorite song at that time was: “These old bones are gonna rise again.”

When I’m 64

Now that I am 64, I think of a song I have heard on the radio here in Canada: “Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m 64?” It is kind of sad now that Paul is old that he has just gotten divorced. But, “Life goes on,” to quote another of their songs.

I feel fine

Here is another favourite love song. I was watching this one just now and feel I must show you. The Beatles sure draw a big crowd of people. I admire the way they write these songs and perform them. I just wish they each had their own microphones!

Act Naturally

I am always interested in what people think and believe, and recently I was listening to a song called: “Eleanor Rigby.” In the song the preacher conducts her funeral, and the Beatles sing: “No one was saved.” So I know that they know about being saved. I want everybody to be saved, and the only way is through Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Receive Jesus into your heart now, before it is too late. None of us know when death will come knocking at the door. In a few of my car accidents, I could have been dead. Serious.

Old Ringo

It is interesting too see that Ringo is still singing in his old age, and here he is singing: “Act Naturally.”

Here comes the sun

This winter has been too long, so here is a positive note.

In my life

Someone I gave a ride to in the taxi requested that I put this song on my site.

I also have a Gospel web site. If you want to check it out, go to:  http://countrygospelandbible.com/

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Favourite Love Songs by Don Gibson

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Admin

Oh Lonesome Me

Some of Don Gibson’s numbers are my favourite love songs. He wrote some really sad ones! When I was young I had never heard of him, but I loved singing: “Oh lonesome me.” It fitted in so well with the way I felt. I was always a loner type of person, and after a break up with a girl friend, this song fitted the exact mood. Later, I remember reading that he wrote that song and his other song: “I can’t stop loving you,” in about 15 minutes. Wow! That’s what I call inspiration.

With June Carter on TV

This is the same song, but with June Carter joining him. I just found this yesterday, and added it on somewhere else too. She has so much fun and personality.

I can’t stop loving you – My favourite love song by Don Gibson

This is still one of my all time favourite love songs. Apparently, “I can’t stop loving you” was a major hit for Ray Charles. It is amazing how one person will write a song, but someone else gets the glory. I read on the internet that about 700 different artists have recorded the songs of Don Gibson. This is a classic. I am so sorry to learn that he has passed away.

Just One Time

This song has been running in my mind, so I felt I must include it. It has like a haunting feeling to it. “If I could see you just one time.” Sometimes it can help to heal the heart when you see your old love just one more time. When you get as old as I am, it is a shock to see what time has done to people you knew when you were teenagers. What I have written above, I wrote yesterday, and today I have just heard that song on the radio by a girl singer. It is amazing. The last time I heard that song on the radio was about 50 years ago.

Sea Of Heartbreak

When I was a teenager I heard this song on the radio by Dickie Loader and the Blue Jeans, who lived in Durban, South Africa, which is a big seaport city. It started with the waves crashing, then the words: “The lights of the harbor, don’t shine for me, I’m like a lost ship, way out on the sea.” It felt so exciting to me.

I also have a Gospel web site. If you want to check it out, go to:  http://countrygospelandbible.com/

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Floyd Cramer and his piano style

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Admin

1. Rebound

This song was a hit when I was young, and I love the way that Floyd Cramer plays the piano in his own unique style. The pictures on this show are so beautiful, and I hope you enjoy them.

2. Last Date

This was his big hit when I was a teenager, and I wish I could play the piano as well as Floyd Cramer.

3. San Antonio Rose

I used to sing this song when I was a teenager, and I recently heard Floyd Cramer do this song on the radio, and I really loved it. It is so beautiful how the strings come in, then he goes back to the piano. It is one of my favorite love songs.

4. How to play ‘Last Date’

Last Date was a hit song when I was young, and I loved the way he played the piano. It was so different from anything I had heard before. When I play slow songs on the piano, I try to do a bit of his style. One day he came to our home town with Jim Reeves and Chet Atkins, but we were not allowed to go to shows. Some guys I knew went to the show, and the one guy started playing guitar like Chet Atkins, and his brother played piano like Floyd Cramer. They were so talented. I was busy trying to take off Jim Reeves. Many times I have wondered how things would have worked out if we had teamed up as a group.

5. Floyd Cramer, piano

The credit said this is Floyd playing on this version of “The Rose,” so I have included it here.

6. Judy – Elvis and Floyd

I just came across this song, and played it about 6 times. I enjoyed it so much.

7. Daddy sang bass

I had a record of Johnny Cash singing this song, and it brings back so many memories. My sister Valerie asked me to sing it at her wedding reception. It is one of my favorite love songs.

8. Cotton fields

This is a great sing-a-long song.

9. Green green grass of home

This is one of my favorite love songs when I sing and play the piano. I sang it many times at Portal Village in Port Colborne.

10. Faded Love – with Pat Daisy

A beautiful old song.

11. You’ve still got a place in my heart

I have heard Dean Martin sing this one.

12. I can’t stop loving you

I still think that everybody needs to be loved.

13. Tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree

Such a lovely song.

I also have a Gospel web site. If you want to check it out, go to:  http://countrygospelandbible.com/

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Favourite Love Songs by Ned Miller

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Admin

You belong to my heart – My favourite love song by Ned Miller

I heard this recording when I was young, and it felt so romantic to me. “While a million guitars are still playing.” Also words like: “It was a moment like this, don’t you remember, and your eyes blew a kiss, when they met mine.” I met a girl once who gave me the eye treatment, and I started dating her. After about a month she told me that her boyfriend was coming into town the next night. That flipped me out. I thought I was her boyfriend. Anyway, it was fun while it lasted.

From a Jack to a King

This was a hit song when I had my first girlfriend, and this song was an encouragement to me because I was so shy and scared. “For just a little while I thought that I might lose the game, then just in time I saw the twinkle in your eye.”

Dusty Guitar

I loved singing and playing the guitar when I was young. One girlfriend felt that I loved the guitar more than I loved her. Then one night at a church camp, I forgot the guitar outside during the night, because I was spending time with her. And it rained. She was so happy, because it meant that I loved her more than the guitar.

Do what you do do well boy-’live’

Ned’s version got deleted, so I have put in this version. ‘Drifter’s Caravan’ ‘live’ at a fun fair. This was kind of like a signature tune for me when I was young. I loved the beat and the good clean message.

Do what you do do well

I see his version is back on the net, so you can listen to both versions if you wish. All the songs I sang in public, I learned off by heart, so I still remember all the words of hundreds of songs like this, and this is still one of my favourite love songs. ” I think Ned Miller wrote all his own love songs. “Thanks old Chap!”

I also have a Gospel web site. If you want to check it out, go to:  http://countrygospelandbible.com/

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Bette Midler

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Admin

The Rose `live`

Here is Bette Midler in a beautiful live performance, singing one of my favourite love songs. Recently this song has been gripping me. There are some very interesting words in that song, like: “love is a hunger, an endless aching need.” She says that the soul afraid of dying never learns to live. Other words are so interesting to me, like people think that love is only for the lucky and the strong. Many times in my life I have thought that the people in Hollywood must be the luckiest people in the world, and that everything goes great for them.

Having written songs myself I am always curious as to who wrote the song. I found out that this song was written by Amanda McBroom.
So I went to her website and read her story about how she wrote the song, and found it very interesting. She says how the song came to her while driving the car. This has happened to me many times, that is why I always have a pen and paper in the car just in case inspiration hits me. She had to race home and rush to the piano to write it.

Wind beneath my wings

Many years ago I worked at Damelin School in Johannesburg, and I often heard Bette Midler sing this song on the canteen duke box. The kids must have loved this song. It reminded me of how many times other people have helped me in my life, but often when I was a singer, I got all the glory, and they didn’t get any. There have been so many people in my life that I have admired, but never got to tell them. So I want to say “Thank you” to you all. They have been the wind beneath my wings, and this is one of my favorite love songs.

Under the boardwalk

She has such a nice voice, and is so natural in her singing and presentation. Falling in love under the boardwalk!

The glory of love

When I was a little boy, my mother used to sing this song: `You`ve got to win a little, you`ve got to lose a little, you`ve got to let your poor heart break a little, that`s the story of, that`s the glory of love.`

In my life

This is very nice, with such beautiful pictures.

Bette Midler – In this life, I was loved by you `live`

This is a very nice song.

My one true friend

Another very lovely song. We all make mistakes, and learn from them. It is hard to find true friends.

The gift of love

Wonderful song. She wants love more than diamonds.

Stay with me Baby

An incredible `live` performance.

From a distance

Bette Midler sings: “From a distance, you look like my friend, even though we are at war.” It reminds me of a book I read when I was young. It was stories by D.L.Moody. I remember the one story going something like this. One night a soldier in the American civil war, had his rifle sights on an enemy soldier on guard duty on a wall. He was about to shoot, when the soldier on guard duty started singing a hymn. Then he felt he couldn’t shoot him because he was his brother in the Lord.

Many years later the soldier was on a ship going across the ocean, and was attending a church service on the ship. One man got up and told how one particular hymn meant a lot to him. He told how he was on guard duty during the civil war, and how he was feeling so scared, then he started singing a hymn, and how a peace came over him. So the other soldier stood up and told how he had him in his sights and was about to shoot him, when he started singing the hymn.

All the wars on earth seem so senseless. I recently read a book on Scotland’s history. So much fighting and killing. The same is true for every country. Why can’t everybody just live in peace? We need more love and less war!

I also have a Gospel web site. If you want to check it out, go to:  http://countrygospelandbible.com/

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Trucker Songs

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Admin

East bound and down

When I think of truck songs, the first song that comes to mind is the one in the Smokey movie sung by Jerry Reed. I love that driving beat and the banjo picking. The first time I saw the Smokey and the Bandit movie was in Johannesburg, South Africa. We had just returned from a trip to the States, and it made me want to go back. When we were first in the States, we were in South Carolina, and some guys had a CB radio. It tied in so well with that movie. The people seemed so free and easy, just like in the movie. However, I don’t agree with everything in the movie. I personally do not drink beer.

Six days on the road

When we first visited the States we heard this song advertised on the TV. I had never heard of the song or Dave Dudley before, but we just heard that last line, and I was hooked on it. It became one of my favorite songs.

Trucker song about Teddy Bear

When we immigrated to Canada I was working as an assistant superintendent at an apartment building. One day I was fixing something in a tenants apartment and the lady was playing this song. I loved it, and later got a recording of it. Real heart touching human drama.

On the road again

I couldn’t resist putting old Willie in here with his traveling song, although I guess his was in a big bus, not a truck. But it is that same feeling of blue skies and the open road.

The Legend

“He’s gonna to go to glory riding 18 wheels.” That line was in my mind, and as I looked for that song I find that Jerry Reed has passed away. Sorry to hear that. I hope he went to Glory. Jesus said He is the only way to the Father, and I want everyone to be saved. Why don’t you say a prayer now, and give your heart to Jesus? Then you will go to Glory too.

Phantom 309

Here’s a spooky song I heard on the radio once, and found it just now. Hope you enjoy it.

I also have a Gospel web site. If you want to check it out, go to:  http://countrygospelandbible.com/

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Favourite Afrikaans Love Songs

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Admin

  1. Boeremusiek – Hartseer en verdriet

    Ek verlang na die Boeremusiek. Mooi fotos van Durban.

  2. Boeremusiek – Namakwaland

    Dit laat my dink toe ons in Namibia was. 

  3. Dankie – Lance James

    Hy het ‘n mooi brief vir my geskryf.

  4. Die stem

    Ek kyk altyd vir die Springbokke op die rugby. 

  5. Draf maar aan ou rypert – Jim Reeves

    Ek was ‘n paar keer by Jim Reeves se plek daar in Nashville. 

  6. Ek sal jou nooit vergeet nie – Virginia Lee

    Sy sing so mooi. 

  7. Geboorteplasie – Jim Reeves

    Ek verlang na die ou dae en die plaas.   

  8. Sarie Marais – A Favourite Afrikaans love song

    Ek het ook hierdie lied gesing.  

  9. Stap saam met my deur die land van son – Min Shaw

    Min Shaw het ons een keer genooi vir koffie by haar huis.

  10. Suikerbossie – Ian Roberts en Orkes

  11. Tussen treine – Richard van der Westhuizen en Lochner de Kock

  12. Ver in die Ou Kalahari – Charles Jacobie

    Ek verlang na die ou dae in die bosveld.        

  13. Verre Land – Jim Reeves

Ek verlang na Uvongo en die see. 

Ek het ook ‘n evangelie webwerf:  http://countrygospelandbible.com/

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Moon Love Songs

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Admin

When my blue moon turns to gold again

This is one of my favorite ‘moon love songs’ as sung by the king. This is Elvis ‘live’ on TV. I have to abbreviate the main word, otherwise they say I am trying to “milk” the search engines.

There’s a new moon over my shoulder

A friend of mine lent me the Jim Reeves LP when I was young, and I really loved some of the songs. I also loved the Slim Whitman version, but I cannot find it on the net.

 

Dark Moon

I see this song as a romantic song. In the old days people worshiped the planet out there as a god, that is why we have Monday in our calendar. I notice that the song was written by Ned Miller.

Moon Love Song about the Bay

This song is featured many time, but I have to put it in this section too.

Moolight and roses

I am not sure if this is featured anywhere else.

A lot of the songs I had listed on my website have been deleted from the internet. I also have a Gospel web site. If you want to check it out, go to:  http://countrygospelandbible.com/

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Train Songs

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Admin

A thing about trains

Johnny Cash sings this song about his son wanting to ride one. I am glad to say that I rode one with my son from Germiston to Johannesburg when he was little.

Wreck of number 9

I heard this song by Jim Reeves when I was a teenager, and it made me think of a story I heard. The station master in Bulawayo sent a locomotive to Botswana, and in the middle of the night he woke up realizing that there was one coming in on the same line from Botswana. I was told that his hair turned white overnight as he realized there was going to be a head on collision. We all make mistakes in life, but some are bigger than others, and some are fatal.

Wayward wind

This song is featured elsewhere, but it fits in with this subject.”I guess the sound of the outward bound, made me a slave to my wandering ways.” They say that at one point in history the station in Bulawayo was the longest in the world. I may be wrong, but I think it was Frank Ifield that gave the Beatles their big break by letting them appear on his show.

My love affair

This is one of my favorite love songs. It is also featured elsewhere, but again, it fits in with my feelings for the old steam machines.

Waiting for a train

I used to love singing this song. I had recordings of it by Jim Reeves and Charles Jacobie, but I can’t find their recordings on the internet. It became real to me when I was in Nashville, and only had a very little bit of money. The song says: “My pocket book is empty, my heart is full of pain.”

Blue Train of the heartbreak line

I just thought of this song that I have in another section. This one of the early songs I used to sing that got me into the business.

Life’s Railway

I used to love singing this song too. When I was a teenager a friend at school invited me to go on holiday with him to Botswana, and we rode the train there and back. It was very exciting. In fact we stayed with his uncle who had a store next to the train line in Mahalapye. I also have a Gospel web site. If you want to check it out, go to:  http://countrygospelandbible.com/

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