The Songs of Babel

The Glowettes - our ladies trio + 2 men - sing all kinds of music but we have a love in our hearts for the 40’s style music. 

Because of our extensive repertoire of big band music, we had been invited to perform on the USS Yorktown for many years. Just the opportunity to perform on this aircraft carrier in front of their beautiful holiday-sized American flag was a treat for us.  

We were asked to perform for a huge corporate event and we were going to sing most of our usual World War II music. 

As most of you might know, this music can be very ‘wordy’ - VERY WORDY! And learning all the words can be very challenging. 

It seems like all of our songs were like that. But, that's OK, right? Because those challenges can help keep you sharp, keep you on your toes, and keep you young. I'll admit that hasn’t been easy for “the Glows +2.” 

Sometimes we had resorted to using cue cards, or “cheat sheets” as I call them, but that idea was not popular with me. It did become necessary if we had to learn a lot of new music for an upcoming show. In the meantime, we struggled to get away from the idea of cue cards. 

Anyway, back to this corporate event... 

We had added new numbers for this occasion and had rehearsed and rehearsed to make sure we had all the words and choreography as crisp and clean as we could get them for this new show. 

One thing about “the Glows” - we have been performing together for so long that if one of us loses our place in the music or forgets a word, each can turn to one of the others and be given that word or verse in that song. We can always tell if any one of us needs help. 

USS Yorktown - Performance Time: 

The show started. 

About halfway through this show, Ladonna was up for a solo. She had walked out stage front with Lynn and I behind her stage-right because we were singing backup on this particular number. 

This song started. 

And, Ladonna was singing with all her heart - interlude - and she started to sing the second verse. 

Well, at that point, somehow, she had forgotten all the words. 

Because of the confusion as to where she was in the song, she couldn't even repeat the first verse. 

Being as graceful and smooth as she could be, she turned around toward us, expecting one of us to help her out of this situation, only to receive a blank stare from me. This song was a new song and I had no idea what the words were.  Great help I was! 

As I was staring into her eyes that seemed to shout out to me: “Jeannie can't you help me out here?!?” 

At this point, all I could do was shrug my shoulders like, “You are on your own kid.” 

Well, LaDonna turned around toward the audience and with all the confidence she could muster got into the microphone as close as she could and started singing in a language that I had never heard before and hoped that I would never hear again. 

It was like she was speaking in tongues. 

Yes, my friends, she was speaking in tongues! 

Some of the sounds and tones that were coming out of her mouth were unrecognizable - they did not exist.  

Lynn and I were dumbfounded. We tried to add as much background vocal as we could. Did we help or do more harm? I'm not sure. 

I remember looking at the bewilderment in the faces of the people in the audience. 

Bewilderment - I'd say so. 

They were trying to figure it all out. Was there a problem with the microphone, with the background music, with... the who knows what? 

When the song was finished, she received a wonderful round of applause. 

She had performed with confidence. 

That was what our music mentor had taught us to do - to perform with confidence whether you know what you're doing or not. 

Perform with confidence! 

He used this story as an example. He was singing for a huge convention years ago and had rehearsed for months for his vocal presentation. When he got up to the mic, every word just left him except for the name of the song - “Sylvia.” He sang the first word Sylvia, and every word after that was Sylvia, Sylvia, Sylvia. He sang the whole song only singing the name of the song, “Sylvia.” He said after his performance the audience gave him a rousing round of applause. They loved his presentation and they never knew the difference! Why? Because he performed with confidence. 

Ladonna? She too had performed with confidence.  

Oh yes, now we always ask her to carry a CHEAT SHEET. 

Not going through that again - not even with confidence! 

~ Jeannie Joyner