June 18, 2001
DOWN HOME:
Someday, their children will ridicule their music
___Do echoes bounce around for decades?
___I think I heard an old, old one.
___The other day, our family headed out for dinner. Joanna and I--since we sit in the front seats and sometimes control the musical selections--cranked the wondrous bluegrass sounds of Allison Krauss up loud enough to appreciate mandolin, fiddle and dobro.
___After a few minutes, Lindsay offered sonic commentary: "I can't believe you can listen to a whole CD of that stuff."
___Reflexively, I looked in the rearview mirror to see if my dad were sitting in Lindsay'sregular spot in the backseat.
MARV KNOX
Editor
___I guess I heard him offer similar critiques of my music when I was Lindsay's age, which would be 17.
___Actually, Daddy, being the father in the household, spoke much more directly than our oldest child. Something like: "Turn that stuff down! Don't you know loud garbage will ruin your ears?"
___Lindsay called our music "stuff" instead of "garbage." But she meant the same thing her grandfather used to mean back in the "old" days.
___This is one of those things "they" don't tell you when you grow up and decide to raise children--if you live long enough, both your parents and your children will make fun of the kind of music you like.
___OK, that's not true all the time. From their infancy, we have exposed Lindsay and Molly to hymns, and we all love many of the same great songs of the faith. We also lived in Nashville when they were little, and we've sung along to many of the same country tunes all their lives. We even like some of the same classical pieces.
___But as our girls have grown and developed their own tastes, they've felt more liberty to express themselves. So, we hear "I can't believe you can listen to a whole CD of that stuff." Not all the time, of course. Just when they don't get to pick out the music.
___I reckon I've got it coming. When I was Lindsay and Molly's age, one of our family "traditions" was to watch the "Lawrence Welk Show" on Saturday nights. I sometimes thought I'd die if I heard Myron Floren plunk out another polka on his accordion, and I feared my ears might fall off in disgust in the middle of one of Guy and Ralna's love ballads.
___So, it serves me right that my kids think music I like is out of fashion.
___This is one of the verities of life. Cain and Abel probably laughed at the old-timey songs Adam crooned to Eve by the evening fire.
___And that offers some comfort. For someday, our kids will be the age their mother and I are now, and they'll have children who can't believe they can stand such out-of-fashion music.
___I just hope our girls teach their children a healthy helping of hymns. If they were good enough for Paul and Silas (OK, Fanny Crosby and B.B. McKinney), they ought to be good enough for my grandkids. Someday.
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