Down By The Riverside

Written by Elinor Wright
for the 1996 Niska Review

I'm not sure where she found it but about a week ago my sister Bernice gave me "Song Hits from 1940-1955." It was a list of titles only, but as I went through them, the "words" came back easily. And they should have! We used to prop up the latest Song Hits Book over the kitchen sink and sing away the supper dishes ever night.

What rememberings! Each melody brought back a person or a place or a special occasion or even a splendid whiff of a savored moment. It was suddenly a summer night at Riverside with Buddy Lawrence playing his heart out for all of us. If I Had You or Paper Doll or My Buddy.

Many of us danced our way through adolescence, a World War, incredible loneliness, and that never-to-be-described fear fro those who were somewhere else (???) writing to us on V-mail. Dancing helped make us survivors. Dancing kept us moving on.

We celebrated every leave and furlough with fervor, sometimes dancing every night for a week straight. We tried to fit lifetimes into weeks because Til the End of Time was more than a romantic song title.

I say "We" because at that time it was important to do things together. The fun was in the numbers, and the fun was dancing with everyone who asked us. I don't remember friends who felt left out or on the fringe.

When the young men left for the military, Maija, Lyla, Alyce Mae, Myrt, and I had a special table at Riverside close to the ticket-taker so we could see who came in. We'd sip a Coca Cola and if no one asked us to dance, we'd dance with each other. That's how we learned the Shag and the Flea Hop and the Twist (I think Howard invented the Flea Hop). We preferred the two-step, swing, and jitterbug, but there were times when waltzes were just right (Ex. I'll See You In My Dreams). We all loved polkas and schottisches and the Butterfly for fun and exercise, but they were hardly romantic.

It was not until much later that I learned how the Riverside Bands played us. If Buddy or Eino or Charlie or Walt noticed an argument brewing, they would select some piece that would calm things down. They could recognize a budding romance and either enhance it or not, as they chose. Sometimes they played something patriotic just to pull everyone together, and sometimes they spotted jealous husbands and cut "the set" short to get those young wives back where they belonged!

Anyway, there were many life lessons learned to the tune of Stardust and Blue Skies.

Remember the girls? Sweet Sue and Sweet Lorraine and Sweet Georgia Brown, as well as, Mona Lisa, Peg O' My Heart, Marie, The Gypsy and especially My Melancholy Baby!

Remember the guys? Sheik of Araby, O Johnny, Jack the Knife, Bill and yes, The Man I Love.

Remember the places? Chicago, St. Louis Blues, April in Paris, Tuxedo Junction?

Remember the times? Always, As Time Goes By, September Song?

As for me I Could Have Danced All Night, Come Rain or Come Shine if only it weren't so Long Ago and Far Away.