The Everyday Musician

We have a stone campfire ring in our backyard, and during the summer months we make pretty good use of it (on days when it’s not windy, that is.) A few years ago as we were sitting around it, one of my kids brought out one of their “beginner” guitars (aka, small plywood guitar-shaped-box.) It only had the bottom four strings left on it, and sounded pretty dead. They wanted me to play a song and sing for them, so on the spot I came up with something that had a little bass movement to it and could be played on just those four strings. I made up some silly words that described what each of them was doing for that particular verse, and then had a chorus that goes

Ohhh oh! I like singing by the camp fire.
Ohhh oh! I like being with you.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think that that little ditty would have the power that it does. Now, every time we even mention having a campfire, the kids start singing this song, but they take off on it, singing verses about what they’re doing right now. It’s just way too much fun making music together like this, and I’m thinking that it will probably make up one of their most prominent memories of our regular family times together.

ttfn,

Sherry