The Green Green Grass of Home (1240 hits)
Category: Sound & MusicLabels: ETS_short_stories ets_nonfiction
Rating: 1.73 on 50 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (View user info) at 2006-07-25 00:34:56 EDT
I am a musician.
At 28, I have been playing music now over half of my life. If there is one thing that has and will always stick with me, I know it will be music. An older musician friend of mine once told me, "Women and friends may come and go, but the music will stay with you till the end."
This isn't true for everyone. Some people get married, settle down, have children, and move on to what they think are better things - more 'productive' things - but some people never give up dreaming - never stop seeking the painful jubilation of a series of well-arranged notes. There are some people whose souls vibrate with the tuning forks of the universe. These are the noisemakers - channelers of the ancient spirits. Geneva Hultz is one such woman.
She was born in 1918. From a young age, perhaps from the age of 11, she played 6-string and lap steel guitar. Casually looking around her home, one might notice that particular untidiness that generally accompanies old age and frailty of frame. They might also notice the crooked pictures on the walls, the dusty surfaces, the musty scent of vintage furnishings, and like all old folks' homes, the echoes of a life gone by.
She sat slowly back in her chair, easing her weary bones.
Knowing she would be reluctant to just come out and ask, one might take it upon himself to offer to help her do some things around the house...fix her phone jack, take out her garbage...anything he could do to make things a little easier for her - the sorts of things that might be done in less than a minute by the young and strong, but would cost someone of her physical strength a great amount of time and pain. After all, it's just good manners.
With a little more attention to detail, one might notice that on an old organ rests her high school diploma, faded to almost oblivion - its near illegible ink telling of how she graduated the year the Great Depression hit its peak and Adolph Hitler rose to power.
In the early days of the Grand Ol' Opry, so the story goes, Geneva was invited to be a permanent member of the house band on lap steel, an offer she passed up on account of the more conservative country music crowd might not approve of her sexual preference, for she was a lesbian, and she feared the strain on her personal life might compromise her happiness. So instead she was content to pass the years playing for the small drunkened crowds in the local bars and making hamburgers at her own small restaurant on weekdays. These are the crossroads of life, and just as we all have our decisions to make, Geneva had made hers.
This is the woman I had the distinct honor of playing music with on Saturday afternoon for a paltry crowd of sun-kissed revelers, celebrating the blessed bonds of matrimony and young love. This 88-year-old woman, whose feeble muscles can scarcely carry her own body without help sat in a metal chair in front of a cheap microphone and dusted off song after song from the recesses of her storied past as myself and a small ragtag band did our best to keep up with the changes. What physical strength had forsaken, the gift of memory had not, as the distillery of her mind dripped off classic after classic through her tiny hands onto the strings.
Her mind was like a reservoir of lyrics and chords, and her voice had an essence of longing - a bittersweet concoction of power and acceptance that this might be the last time she ever played for another person. It's the kind of feeling I get listening to Johnny Cash's last recordings.
After the gig, we were given a little money to split between us. It wasn't much, but it served as a token of thanks between appreciative friends. She didn't know how much we'd gotten, or even that we'd gotten anything, so we tried to give her all the money and told her a little white lie that we'd already gotten our reward for playing.
It wasn't entirely untrue. We hadn't done it for the money. We had done it for the priviledge of helping this woman fulfill her most sacred purpose in the twilight of her life. To pick up her instrument again and in her own way, make life make sense again. Sharp as she is, it didn't take long before she had discovered we were fibbing.
After much backwards haggling we finally got her to take half.
I left that house that night with a deep sense of respect and admiration for this woman. I hope to play with her again sometime, but if that time never comes, God willing, I'll at least be able to listen to her voice again.
In 2005, a couple men helped her her fragile body into our little home studio. They sat her gently down in a chair in front of a microphone, handed her a guitar, and pressed the "record" button. It was the first and, perhaps, last time she'd ever committed her voice to tape. Almost 80 years of notes...buried like some lost temple in the sands of time.
Pity she didn't do this more often throughout her life. But I guess we all have to leave what we can while we can, for tomorrow we will be gone.
Geneva_Hultz_Green_Green_Grass_of_Home.mp3 (4 MB) [audio/x-mpeg]
User Reviews
Submitted by Serious_Melvin (user info) at 2006-08-13 00:21:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by FilthyAssistant (user info) at 2006-08-11 17:54:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
And so BobLobla willingly sacrifices the moral high ground...
Submitted by BobLobla (user info) at 2006-08-11 17:43:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2006-07-27 00:16:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by jgreening (user info) at 2006-07-26 23:49:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
http://www.ubersite.com/m/90973
Fantasy Football, wooo!!!
Submitted by BobLobla (user info) at 2006-07-26 12:56:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Just listened to this again, AWESOME.
See, medication is good.
Submitted by Soley_Trinity (user info) at 2006-07-26 11:56:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
There's something familiar and haunting about her voice.
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2006-07-26 11:49:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
"Doc, I can't stop singing 'The Green, Green Grass of Home.'"
"That sounds like Tom Jones Syndrome."
"Is it common?"
"Well, It's Not Unusual."
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-07-26 00:12:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Perhaps this was good, but the political rants are the funniest thing on this website.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2006-07-25 22:34:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-07-25 21:51:41 (#)
Ranking: 0
Go back to rants. They were far more entertaining.
__________________
Sorry, Ax, but I gotta say blow me. This was a great post. . . . . ..
Music rules.
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2006-07-25 21:51:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Go back to rants. They were far more entertaining.
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2006-07-25 21:22:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Absolute beauty.
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2006-07-25 16:05:36 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
well, not as good as Tom Jones' version - but still OK.
Submitted by The_Yellow_Dart (user info) at 2006-07-25 15:04:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Neat-o!
I love acoustic with a blues feel. Her voice is doing pretty good for someone of that age as well.
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2006-07-25 14:16:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
That's pretty fucking awesome.
Submitted by BobLobla (user info) at 2006-07-25 11:59:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Now THIS is a good post, you don't sound at all unbalanced...
Submitted by wardy (user info) at 2006-07-25 10:50:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
middle finger.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2006-07-25 10:50:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Poots (user info) at 2006-07-25 10:44:25 (#)
Ranking: 2
If this woman sells a million copies of that record, which I hope her sweet heart does, and dies, which I hope her sweet her does not, where would the residuals go? If she needs legal representation gimme a call. Not that I'm a lawyer or anything just good at confusing the old.
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Heh
But you did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, eh?
Submitted by Poots (user info) at 2006-07-25 10:44:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I didn't listen to the song but I liked the story very much. It reminded me of my grandma, the sweetest woman on the face of the earth, she isn't musically inclined or anything but I have to fix something every other time I go to see her.(screw in a lightbulb, fix her computer, programm the tv remote etc. etc.) She always rewards me by making me feel like the smartest, strongest, most handsome man to ever live on the planet.(no she doesn't blow me or what ever you jerks are thinking)
Also, she usually fixes a dinner or something for me. My grandma is a bad mother fucking cook, probably the best ever.
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If this woman sells a million copies of that record, which I hope her sweet heart does, and dies, which I hope her sweet her does not, where would the residuals go? If she needs legal representation gimme a call. Not that I'm a lawyer or anything just good at confusing the old.
Submitted by pirate_pipi (user info) at 2006-07-25 10:33:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
+2 for geneva
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2006-07-25 10:26:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by NerfHerder (user info) at 2006-07-25 05:27:04 (#)
Ranking: 2
Yeah I see what you mean about the similarity to Cash. It's the wavering voice but strong spirit thing. Disarmingly charming.
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Yea, it's beautiful. Like an old oak tree in the breeze.
Submitted by inion_de_trua (user info) at 2006-07-25 10:05:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
*sigh*
why can't you do these things all the time. or at least punctuate your political posts with them a little more often.
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2006-07-25 09:44:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Merlina (user info) at 2006-07-25 08:54:18 (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Flying_buttmonkey (user info) at 2006-07-25 07:09:31 (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by iddqd (user info) at 2006-07-25 02:32:45 (#)
Ranking: 2
stick to things like this. this is interesting, and thought-provoking in a way that is much more influential than your rants
============
ignore this. Your rants are your persian flaw.
Submitted by TigerLilly (user info) at 2006-07-25 09:05:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Merlina (user info) at 2006-07-25 08:54:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Flying_buttmonkey (user info) at 2006-07-25 07:09:31 (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by iddqd (user info) at 2006-07-25 02:32:45 (#)
Ranking: 2
stick to things like this. this is interesting, and thought-provoking in a way that is much more influential than your rants
Submitted by wookie (user info) at 2006-07-25 08:53:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2006-07-25 08:46:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Ace.
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2006-07-25 07:19:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I might listen to it when I get home, but I probably won't like it.
Old peoples voices tend to distract me from enjoying music, always has.
Submitted by Flying_buttmonkey (user info) at 2006-07-25 07:09:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by iddqd (user info) at 2006-07-25 02:32:45 (#)
Ranking: 2
stick to things like this. this is interesting, and thought-provoking in a way that is much more influential than your rants
Submitted by badassmofo (user info) at 2006-07-25 07:08:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Method (user info) at 2006-07-25 06:45:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You have such a pretty voice, Bradley, I don't know how you do it
Submitted by c1ndy (user info) at 2006-07-25 06:00:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
pretty
Submitted by WatchMyStep (user info) at 2006-07-25 05:35:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Story was nice. The music was nicer.
Submitted by NerfHerder (user info) at 2006-07-25 05:27:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Yeah I see what you mean about the similarity to Cash. It's the wavering voice but strong spirit thing. Disarmingly charming.
Submitted by ilikesteak (user info) at 2006-07-25 04:13:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
For giving me something good to listen to. The best thing I've heard in years, and is far better than this new shit.
Submitted by SullyThePirate (user info) at 2006-07-25 03:15:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Awwww
Submitted by Chroniclysm (user info) at 2006-07-25 03:11:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by iddqd (user info) at 2006-07-25 02:32:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
stick to things like this. this is interesting, and thought-provoking in a way that is much more influential than your rants.
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2006-07-25 02:26:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by KindaNews (user info) at 2006-07-25 02:20:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Sweet.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2006-07-25 02:17:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
_+2 for good music. . .
Submitted by Method (user info) at 2006-07-25 02:06:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2006-07-25 02:01:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Wonderful story.
Not my taste in music at ALL- but the story made it bearable to listen to at least a good solid 42 seconds worth.
Thank you for that.
r.
Submitted by FilthyAssistant (user info) at 2006-07-25 02:00:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Creepy_guy (user info) at 2006-07-25 01:47:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I just finished recording a song on my computer...
Submitted by BranDo (user info) at 2006-07-25 01:20:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Great little story!
Bis, bis.
Submitted by JDL (user info) at 2006-07-25 01:04:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Jeanneee (user info) at 2006-07-25 00:54:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
sweet
Submitted by chipolatte (user info) at 2006-07-25 00:37:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
i will give old folks that are still useful much props.
Submitted by professorfuckface (user info) at 2006-07-25 00:36:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
STFU RETARD NOBODY CARES ABOUT OLD CUNTS OR CONSPIRACY THEORIES JUST STFU