For my birthday, I received a “high-powered handheld video game system in a sleek, folding design - loaded with features for a unique gaming experience.” I can also connect wirelessly at home via my wireless network or at designated “hotspots.”
The color of my system was coral pink, of course. For all you high-tech lovers you know what this system is! For those who don't, it's a Nintendo DS.
After working on computers for years, I have resisted a lot of high-tech gadgets since I retired (I bought my first laptop recently), but my grandson assured me I would love to play these games in my spare time to keep my brain sharp. Well, I went through the system training and started to play a musical game which I thought was something I might be able to handle best. To my great relief, I knew a lot of the songs and their tunes and could tap in their notes fairly quickly. My grandson was quite impressed with my scores, which I took as a high compliment. One of the songs I knew quite well (and was surprised to see in the game) was “Sippin' Cider (Through a Straw).” I hadn't heard that song in years and it brought back some great memories from the 1950s.
I was just in grade school when I first heard “Sippin' Cider” (author unknown, from 1951) on the 45-minute school bus ride east from Red Creek Central School to the rural outreaches of the town of Victory. The Red Creek Central School District takes in more than half its students from Cayuga County and the remainder from Wayne County. My family lived on its most easterly school district border in the Town of Victory. Our bus driver, Wayne Coleman, a distant relative of mine, drove our school bus, Bus 19, for most of the time I was in school.
The teenage girls on the bus always loved to sing and would ask Wayne, “Wayne, can we please sing?” More often than not, Wayne said “yes.”
We didn't sing going to school, everyone was too sleepy, many boarded the bus a little after 7 a.m.; but coming home was another matter.
Once we dropped off some pupils before we got to Victory and things quieted down, one of the older girls would ask to sing. I remember Beatrice Hubbard, Ginny Jones, Patty Lynch, Mary Ann Hopkins and Joanie Dodge singing and thought their voices were beautiful. How did they know these great songs? They were mostly “girl” songs named “Sincerely” (H. Fuque, 1955); “Hearts Made of Stone” (Jackson and Ray, 1954); “Sugartime” ( Phillips and Echols, 1958); “Silhouettes on the Wall” (The Diamonds, 1957); and “Mister Sandman” (P. Ballard, 1950s). They sang “On Top of Old Smokey” (a folk song from the 1940s) once, but I think it was because one of the fellas got caught smoking in school. We won't go into that.
Well, in no time my friends and I came of age and could belt out the songs with the best of them. We didn't know what they meant, but we could sing them. We had a great leader for “Sippin' Cider” though, and that was James “Jimmie” Everson. “Sippin' Cider” was an “echo song,” the leader sang a line and you repeated it and at the end of every verse the whole group sings the verse again together. James was originally from the South, had great rhythm and we were just in awe of him and his musical ability. He also tap danced and sang at Boy Scout talent shows on the stage at the old Grange Hall (our current History Center), but “Sippin' Cider” was his signature song.
When James led “Sippin' Cider” on the bus, the whole bus sang, I think Wayne did too. Wayne has since passed on and Bus 19 was retired in the 1960s and a new bus, Bus 30, took over for the Victory route and the youngsters in the next generation.
Just a reminder - the Victory Fire Department chicken barbecue starts at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, March 9 at the firehouse on Route 38 in Victory. Come and support our fire department. You may eat in the fire hall or take-outs are available. See you there!
Beverly Sayles is the Victory town historian.
After working on computers for years, I have resisted a lot of high-tech gadgets since I retired (I bought my first laptop recently), but my grandson assured me I would love to play these games in my spare time to keep my brain sharp. Well, I went through the system training and started to play a musical game which I thought was something I might be able to handle best. To my great relief, I knew a lot of the songs and their tunes and could tap in their notes fairly quickly. My grandson was quite impressed with my scores, which I took as a high compliment. One of the songs I knew quite well (and was surprised to see in the game) was “Sippin' Cider (Through a Straw).” I hadn't heard that song in years and it brought back some great memories from the 1950s.
I was just in grade school when I first heard “Sippin' Cider” (author unknown, from 1951) on the 45-minute school bus ride east from Red Creek Central School to the rural outreaches of the town of Victory. The Red Creek Central School District takes in more than half its students from Cayuga County and the remainder from Wayne County. My family lived on its most easterly school district border in the Town of Victory. Our bus driver, Wayne Coleman, a distant relative of mine, drove our school bus, Bus 19, for most of the time I was in school.
The teenage girls on the bus always loved to sing and would ask Wayne, “Wayne, can we please sing?” More often than not, Wayne said “yes.”
We didn't sing going to school, everyone was too sleepy, many boarded the bus a little after 7 a.m.; but coming home was another matter.
Once we dropped off some pupils before we got to Victory and things quieted down, one of the older girls would ask to sing. I remember Beatrice Hubbard, Ginny Jones, Patty Lynch, Mary Ann Hopkins and Joanie Dodge singing and thought their voices were beautiful. How did they know these great songs? They were mostly “girl” songs named “Sincerely” (H. Fuque, 1955); “Hearts Made of Stone” (Jackson and Ray, 1954); “Sugartime” ( Phillips and Echols, 1958); “Silhouettes on the Wall” (The Diamonds, 1957); and “Mister Sandman” (P. Ballard, 1950s). They sang “On Top of Old Smokey” (a folk song from the 1940s) once, but I think it was because one of the fellas got caught smoking in school. We won't go into that.
Well, in no time my friends and I came of age and could belt out the songs with the best of them. We didn't know what they meant, but we could sing them. We had a great leader for “Sippin' Cider” though, and that was James “Jimmie” Everson. “Sippin' Cider” was an “echo song,” the leader sang a line and you repeated it and at the end of every verse the whole group sings the verse again together. James was originally from the South, had great rhythm and we were just in awe of him and his musical ability. He also tap danced and sang at Boy Scout talent shows on the stage at the old Grange Hall (our current History Center), but “Sippin' Cider” was his signature song.
When James led “Sippin' Cider” on the bus, the whole bus sang, I think Wayne did too. Wayne has since passed on and Bus 19 was retired in the 1960s and a new bus, Bus 30, took over for the Victory route and the youngsters in the next generation.
Just a reminder - the Victory Fire Department chicken barbecue starts at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, March 9 at the firehouse on Route 38 in Victory. Come and support our fire department. You may eat in the fire hall or take-outs are available. See you there!
Beverly Sayles is the Victory town historian.
The Citizens' Say
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