Mister Sandman, Bring Me a Dream!

Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream

Make him the cutest that I've ever seen

Give him two lips like roses and clover

Then tell him that his lonesome nights are over

Sandman, I'm so alone

Don't have nobody to call my own

Please turn on your magic beam

Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream!

It's 1954 and I am 13 years old standing on the floor of the school gymnasium singing my heart out in front of the entire school, teachers and a few parents for the Sandman to "bring me a dream."  Miss Jane was playing the piano when I stepped up the mike and sang that popular song by the Chordettes.  This solo performance was probably the first of many solos I performed during my junior and high school years.  I loved to sing and had a pretty good voice and could "carry a tune" at an early age.  Miss Jane Metz taught music and I took chorus all through high school.  Our high school choral group performed Handel's Messiah one year at the Methodist Church.  I always got an "A" in chorus, and I performed solos, duets, or trios at special occasions--football homecomings and talent shows.  I won the top prize of $20 at a Chamber of Commerce talent show as Rita, my BFF from church, accompanied me on piano when I sang How Great Thou Art.  We split the winnings and bought new clothes or shoes, but I don't remember exactly what I bought--probably bubble gum and candy!

During my 11th and 12th years in high school (1958-1959), our choral group traveled to Tahlequah and Poteau to perform with thousands of high school kids across the state.  What an amazing sound of beautiful young voices blending together, plus a trip to Northeastern State University (NSU) and staying in the dorms that I will never forget!  We stayed in private homes when we went to Poteau (three girls to a bedroom) and it was my first time to have fresh grapefruit and cereal from a box for breakfast.  Wow!  Those city folks really knew how to live!  NSU was fun except when my two friends, Shirley and Patty, made fools of themselves dancing one night at the college "mixer".  The boys starting throwing coins down to them from the balcony.   When the movie Footloose came out in 1984, it made me think how similar Muldrow was to the town of Elmore City, Oklahoma, in that movie.  Growing up with a Southern Baptist background, I was taught that dancing was sinful, so I was not about to participate in their dancing that night.  Patty loved to dance and she would occasionally show up on Saturday mornings dancing on a television station in Fort Smith around the time American Bandstand became popular back east.  I think she was "ostrascized" from the First Baptist Church for a time, but she didn't care!  Patty was born to dance and pop gum. 

Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream
Make him the cutest that I've ever seen
Give him the word that I'm not a rover
Then tell him that his lonesome nights are over.

I wasn't noticed by the boys when I was 13--guess I was little bit too much of a tomyboy or maybe it was because I was built like Olive Oyl, Popeye's girlfriend.  I don't think I was noticed by the boys until I was at least 16.  I was a very "late bloomer" and built like a stick, but I could sure sing hoping someday I would have that dream guy.  I think about Taylor Swift and when she relates her story about how her parents moved to Nashville so she could further her career in music and became so popular.  No one really thought about that for me in 1954, and we didn't have American  Idol or America's Got Talent, but we did have a radio station in Fort Smith that some of my friends managed to get on to show off their talent for singing.  I guess my grandparents didn't really think about it things like that.  If they had, maybe I would have been their "meal ticket" out of there, or at least mine. 



Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream

Give him a pair of eyes with a come-hither gleam

Give him a lonely heart like Pagliacci

And wavy hair like Liberace.

Mr. Sandman, someone to hold

Would be so peachy before I'm too old

So please turn on your magic beam,

Mr. Sandman and bring me, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE

Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream!

And kids, just so you know, I did learn to dance and danced plenty of times after school at the malt shop with Patty and the girls.  Patty taught me how to bop, but I never told my grandparents.  Some things are just best left unsaid.

Love, Mom & Nana