Banks of the Ohio

"Banks of the Ohio"

Traditional blues song, sung and played by Patricia Cummings

1969 photo of Pat

I have enjoyed singing and playing guitar since I was a teenager, although I am trained in neither aspect of music. So, it is an "untutored" sound you are hearing that comes only from the will of a little girl to enjoy music. I enjoy playing old folk music that was revived in the 1960s. I hope that you will think about passing some of the songs along to your students or children.

This song is a tragic love ballad in which the "beloved" actually murders a woman because she will not be his bride. Love often is not fair and sometimes ends in tragedy for those who love too much, too willingly, or simply think they are in love and are too blind to see that they are only being used. There are many facets to the whole situation that we call love, and there are gradations of this phenomena that many of us elevate to capital letters: L-O-V-E.

For children, a first love is often a parent of the opposite sex. I can safely say that I thought my Dad was simply the best. He taught me everything worth knowing in life: that honesty "rules," that education is important, that doing your best is never a wasted effort. I learned to be a loving person by emulating the love he had for my mother. He truly doted on her, and worshipped the ground she walked upon.

Yet, love goes wrong for a lot of people. Music is one natural way of expressing all those feelings of missing someone, of being betrayed and hurt, of wishing things were different. We can never MAKE anyone like us, or love us. Either they do, or they don't. When love is returned, we are happy. When it is not, we can become dismally sad.

No matter what experience you've personally had with love, there is a song written about it. And, no matter how bad or how tragic a scene the song paints, we feel happier, having sung it. That's a little weird, but I guarantee you, it is the truth. The reason? Collectively, we "feel" each other's pain, to couch the situation in trite and common terms. That said, I hope you enjoy my renditions of these old melodies.

Patricia Cummings, August 2007

Quilter's Muse Publications, Concord, NH. pat@quiltersmuse.com