I just phoned my sister and some say that she has a bad memory. I don’t see her that way. To me my sister is a brilliant 90 year old well educated woman who can carry a merry tune and an intriguing conversation, if you give here the opportunity. I said “How you doing?” And my sister replied, “Fine. When are you coming to see me?” I just ignored her. I said, “See if you can finish this line. I sang, probably off key, “Give me a little–” and she came in right on que singing, “Will you huh.?” I said you got one right. She continued singing, “Whatta ya going to miss, will you huh. Gosh or gee, why do you refuse?” and I gave in and together we sang, “I can’t see, what your gonna to lose.” I interrupt and then sang, “Some times I wonder when I spend ” I pause and she sang, “the lonely night, dreaming of a song.” Again I interrupt her but she kept on singing and she would sing the entire song if I let her. She knows all of the words of these songs. I did this with 9 songs in a row and she got every one of them right. If I pulled up a list of the top songs for 1940 I could probably do 20 songs in a row and she’d get them all right, yes she would probably know the lyrics to at least 19 out of 20.
If I started out and asked her to , “Sing me a song. Any song.” She’d say “I can’t remember any.”
I compliment her on her great memory. If true and it generally is, I’d say, “That’s great. You got nine songs in a row and you know them straight through I bet.” And she agreed. I said to her, “I think there are a lot of people we know who believe that you can’t remember anything.” And she said, “Yes.” and I explain to her that “I’m amazed at all you can remember. Evidently we all are asking you the right questions.” Next I tried the song that went, “Moonlight in ….” And she said nothing. I tried again, “Moonlight in…” and got no response. So I sang, “Moonlight in Vermont.” and she said, “I don’t know that song.” I explained, “I used to play drums with a boogie woogie piano player and he lived just two streets over on the way to the school. And she said, “Stople.” She was right. I said, “And the next street is what?” And she said, “I can’t remember.” So I said, “The Varsity Theatre is down that street just one block.” And she asked, “At Six Mile and Livernois?” And I said, “Yes,” so of course she said, “It is Livernois.” And I said “Honey, some people say you can’t remember. Heck, you remember everything we are talking about. Then I said what is across the street from the Varsity Theater right on the corner?” And she said, “I can’t remember.” And I said, “Sure you do. it was the Wilson what?” and she said, “The Wilson Diary.” And she was right. She remembered. And if I was just patient enough and smart enough we could carry on a really, in depth conversation about the old songs and the old neighborhood and I would congratulate her on her really amazing memory. After all, we are talking about stuff back in the 1940’s. She amazes me. Barb’s head is crammed full of right answers. Sometimes they just need a little prodding. So I sang, “Oh say can you see,” and I remained silent and she sang in a voice that got stronger and stronger the rest of the Star Spangled Banner, two choruses right on key and she didn’t miss a word. And I just bet that is better than about 90% of the rest of us Americans might do. We just don’t have good memories. We can’t remember.
Just think what a world this could be if we all just learned how to ask the right questions and how even better yet it could become if we all could just learn the right answers.
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