Wednesday Challenge: birthday music

Kenia, of Imaginary Garden with Real Toads, has posed an interesting challenge for writer-bloggers this week:

"Discover what was number 1 on the charts the day you were born. Listen to the song, (and then) write a poem which will be your own chant."

Well, I checked with This Day In Music and found out the number one song on my birthdate was called Rumors are Flying played by Frankie Carle and his orchestra, with vocal by Marjorie Hughes.

I don't remember either of those people (I was very young) but I certainly remember Frankie Carle's most famous composition, Sunrise Serenade, which, for years, was a hit for one of my lifelong favorite musicians, Glenn Miller. (The two links in this paragraph will give you Sunrise Serenade played by the composer and by the unforgettable Glenn Miller.)

The following poem might not be "my own chant" but it sure is my own work! It is simple Kay-doggerel without any particular rhyme or rhythm, and although I misappropriated the title from the Frankie Carle song, my poem is not based on either the music or the lyrics.

RUMORS WERE FLYING

It’s ridiculous, I know, but my mother told me so.

(They were married on the seventh day of March.)

When I was born, the tongues began, wagging to and fro,

In all old biddies (those so full of starch).

My birthday was December first, although it didn’t snow,

(And my parents were engaged before the war)

But, because nine months had not quite passed

The silly old biddies asked and asked

The kinds of questions biddies just adore.

“It’s not nine months, so what do you think?”

While their silly old faces turned bright pink,

(A color then not right for babywear.)

Well, Mom and Dad were very glad

He lived to come back home from “over there.”

So being happy instead of grumps

Was what they had in mind with their firstborn—

They’d counted weeks instead of months

From wedding night until that "Kayful" morn.