Gitalong, little doggies, gitalong..
May 5, 2009 (Tuesday)
Ever think about toy horses, how many different kinds there are? There are the little horses on the “what not” shelves, some made of china, others of wood or metal of some kind, and they are decorated with designs, paint and frills of many kinds. A few are music boxes, and the horse twirls around for you like a ballerina as the music plays.
Nearly everyone can remember their own “hobby horse,” perhaps it rocked on rockers, or was suspended as a swing, or was attached fore and aft with springs, that let it bounce like a real horse giving you your ride for the morning. Many of us recall riding the merry-go-rounds, with the calliope music, and the big, lifelike and beautiful horses that would take you for a ride around and around and around. When our children wanted to ride them, we always found an excuse to ride with them so that we could keep the child safe, of course (had nothing to do with getting to ride again, did it?).
A lot of our songs have been about horses, in one way or another. Many of them come to mind as I think of singing them with my mother, dad, uncle or some other member of the family, always just the two of us. I recall having fun with “Gitalong, little doggie, gitalong, gitalong, gitalong little doggie, gitalong..” Every once in a while, we sang, “Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam, where the deer and the antelope play, where seldom is heard a discouraging word, and the skies are not cloudy all day..” I used to sing that one, and a lot of others, after school, riding the front fender of our 1938 Chevrolet in the driveway of our house. I was Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, riding my Chevrolet horse bareback, singing to the wind. Those old western movies made horses and songs go together well.
There are lots and lots of old western songs. Maybe you’re thinking of one. You may be humming one. Try not to think about one of those old songs. Try, but if you hear yourself yodeling a little, it’s OK.