I’m not one to make new years resolutions-not that I think there’s anything wrong with them. I guess the truth is I’m so OCD about things I couldn’t imagine waiting until new years to change something that needed changing. Usually I let the new year start without much thought to what it will bring, but this year, I’ve found myself studying on beginning a new year.
It all started back last summer. With the girls about to start college we knew the time to buy them a car had arrived. After a little looking around and trying to decide what to get we decided the best thing was to buy me a new car and let them have mine-which was the one they were most used to driving. I say buy me a new car-but actually it’s only new to me-it’s several years old.
Of course we drove the car before we bought it, looked under the hood, and The Deer Hunter even crawled underneath it! But the one thing we did not check was the cd player.
Man was I disappointed when we realized it didn’t work. I said “I wouldn’t have even bought the car if I’d known the cd player didn’t work how could I be so stupid!!!” The Deer Hunter said “I think you’re over reacting we’ll get it fixed and until then the cassette player works.” I simmered down and went off in search of the cassette tapes I knew I’d saved somewhere.
My pink plastic box of cassette tapes proved to be interesting. I found one of the girls singing when they couldn’t have been more than 2 or 3 years old-so sweet! There was one of Papaw Wade preaching and there was a least 3 of Ricky Skaggs-who knew I ever liked him that much.
Over the coming weeks I listened to Skaggs until I just couldn’t listen anymore. I broke open the pink box and found a Nitty Gritty Dirt Band cassette-into the player it went. As I sat in the parking lot waiting on Granny to get her groceries the song Oh What A Love came through the speakers. I thought “Wow I had totally forgotten that song, hmph reminds me of courting days with The Deer Hunter.”
It took me a few more days of listening to the song before I realized it would be perfect for the girls to sing-and it is. The lyrics fit them. Maybe it’s because the song is part of the soundtrack that their momma and daddy fell in love to.
Oh What A Love written by Jimmy Ibbotson
Oh what a love, that’ll bind the wounds of a loss and heal my heart
Oh what a love, to cast away the pain
Oh what a love, that’ll bear for me the cost of a brand new start
Oh what a love, to let me begin again
Oh what a life, that’ll brighten up the corners of a lonely life
Oh what a life, to cast away the rain
Oh what a life to remove the gloom I face in the dark alone
Oh what a life, I believe I can see again
I remember the day
We walked on the beach till sunset, then we sang
And the songs we played were a promise of love that’ll last beyond the grave
Oh what a song, learned from the sea taught slowly to the young
Oh what a song, to cast away the rain
Oh what a song, to break the bonds of fear and still the sound
Oh what a song, I believe I can sing again
I remember the day we met at a place of hope, I took what you gave
And the words we’d say were a promise of love that’ll honor beyond the grave
Oh what a love, that’ll bind the wounds of a loss and heal my heart
Oh what a love, to cast away the pain
Oh what a love, that’ll bear for me the cost of a brand new start
Oh what a love, to let me begin again
Jimmy Ibbotson is a fantastic songwriter-but this has to be one of his best. Such simple words yet such a profound hopefulness that instills an eagerness in one to indeed begin again.
Since I don’t make new years resolutions, I guess I could claim Oh What A Love is my new years song. A new years song that sings of a hope for all to have love that lasts beyond the grave; a time for each of us to begin again; taking more time to see the love which surrounds me; learning more songs that need passing on to the next generation; and remembering treasured memories that will last forever.
Tipper
No cassettes, but a lot of old vinyl. Think I’m going to get some out tomorrow. I have a program that lets me record my records to the computer. One of my favorites is an album with Doc Watson and Chet Atkins. Do the girls ever sing Canaan Land?
I’m not one to make New Year’s Resolutions. In earlier days, I did and they depressed me cause it was just another thing for me to fail at.
Then I got born again, which I believe made it easier for me to realize and come to understand that GOD saw something good and worthwhile in me, and that’s what I needed to use as my guideline for trying to live a better life rather than holding over guilt from times of failure before.
Now I try to live each day, trying as hard as I can to be the best I can be, more easily recognizing and forgiving myself when I fail, and starting each new day brand new doing the same thing while praying I’m getting better and better every day.
God bless.
RB
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Thank you for sharing this Tipper. Hope you have a wonderful new year!!!
Theresa
Hey Tipper: You hit the nail on the head – as usual! Wonderful post. Anyone who wants old acetate records (45’s ,etc) restored should contact Johnny Carter at National Recording Studio down in Rome, GA. He refined my Uncle Johnny’s recorded music from the 1950s. AND THE CDs he made for me COMES WITH A COPY OF MY NEW BOOK “Fiddler of the Mountains” – as long as they last!!
Eva Nell
Tipper,
I resolve to read the Blind Pig everyday unless there is an emergency!
I resolve to comment on the Blind Pig post every day unless I have absolutely nothin’ to say….uhhh I don’t see that happin’!
I resolve to remember my Appalachian heritage and use it up, wear it out and make do before I throw it out…
I resolve to listen to my elders and their advice…however at my age of 74 there aren’t many of those left!
I resolve to resolve and keep it holy (sacred)!
Great post Tipper,
I love the girls new song! I would love for them to sing one of my old datin’ songs…I have the 45’s stuck in the closet somewhere!
PS…I try to make resolutions that are keep able, otherwise I just don’t resolve anything!
I first listened to and watched the girl twins sing this on Dec 8. Just a bit of advice for Paul, he’d better have his bandanna ready. As good as he is he may soon be eating dust but from what I can perceive that is his goal.
Great Song with great picking and singing on a great blog. Keep it going. Oh What A love can be for anyone and anything and I love this blog!
Peggy L.
Tipper,
This is one of your most inspiring
Posts ever. As I was sippin’ on my
coffee, a lump was in my throat.
And I thought the Girls did an
excellent job on the song too…Ken
Deja vu — I’ve been rambling in my old cassettes lately! Great memories and music. Oh What a Love — may we all be blessed to have that kind of love.
Well you talking about dating and listening to cassette tapes makes me realize again what a young whipper-snapper you are. I still have a box of my dating eight tracks which contain some great music also. This goes to prove that music is a lot like friends, just because you get something or someone that is new we shouldn’t discard the old. I think I need to go pull out my records and the record player. The “Young Ladies” did their usual great job.
Another great job by the Pressley Girls! Thanks for sharing.
I made two resolutions last year.
1) Start smoking
2) Gain weight
I am happy to say that I completed one of them. I gained weight. I just cannot bring myself to smoke again after nineteen years without.
My resolution for 2015 is simple:
1) Attend the Wespac’rs convention in Branson, Misouri.
2) Ok, I guess we should put the gain weight thing on there again.
Totally agree on resolutions, don’t wait till Jan 1 if it needs fixin.I’m a Dirt Band/Ibbotson fan also. The band has reconstitued itself many times.Ibbotson hasn’t been a member since 2004.Even remember when Jackson Browne was with the group.
I have at least two boxes of cassette tapes which I am going to transfer to cds.
Lots of good clogging music. The Cajun Waltz they did last year was from one of my tapes.I really need to make a resolution to transfer tapes before they
deteriorate.
Same with VHS to dvds. It would be a shame to loose all these great memories.
You have inspired me to get busy.
My cd case is full of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band an Alabama.
A great era for equally great music! I still have a crush on Alison Krause—but don’t tell my wife!
The girls did a great job on that one!
This feel-good song is made all the better by Chitter and Chatter’s touch. They get better at every turn and it’s simply delightful to see them come into their own as artists. I look forward to following their progress all my days.
Just had a few minutes to listen to the song before I leave for church and I am so glad I did! They did a superb job on that song. I have never heard the song before but their voices and the music was wonderful. I so enjoyed it!!! Glad you had to go look for your cassette tapes. (smile)
Listening right now lovely song and such a good job by the girls as usual
Lovely!
How cool! I love the Dirt band,and there are alot of date songs for us as well!! I wish I had a working cassette player..there are so many good ones. I never did New Years resolutions either. I always figured goals are for everyday and work at them all the time.
So romantic for a Sunday morning! The girls did a wonderful job on your special song. This is truly a keeper.
Tip, your right that song is perfect for the girls! They do a very nice job of it.
I like your thought for the year….remember love….love is forever and that means way beyond the grave.
I sure love this family.
See what good came of that car not having the right kind of player! You might have let that pink cassette box stay lost somewhere and never have rediscovered this wonderful Ibbotson-Skaggs song that Chitter and Chatter and the Blind Pig Gang so wonderfully and inspiringly performed for us! Thank you! I, too, love the words of the song–and the music–and the way Chitter and Chatter sang and played it! This was a wonderful New Year’s present to all your Blind Pig regulars! “O What a Love” is a good song to keep in mind all year long with its powerful message! Have a good year!