Red River Valley, for Dad on his birthday

Such a sad song

When I was a little girl, I asked my late father to tell me his favorite song…”the most beautiful song you ever heard.”

He thought a minute. “I guess it’d have to be ‘Red River Valley.’” His answer stumped me. It was such a sad song. Why would your favorite be one that made you feel sad?

He wasn’t one to listen to the radio or records. In fact, the bigger surprise may have been that he even had a favorite song. I imagine he’d heard Gene Autry sing it in the 1936 Western film Red River Valley.

“Red River Valley” is a cowboy song written around 1890, and it’s ranked #10 of the Top 100 Western songs of all time. Most of what I found on YouTube were mournful country-western renditions with a harmonica interlude.

The Smothers Brothers

While searching for the song, I found a charming Smothers Brothers skit where they play a snippet of the song at the very end. The entire skit itself is great. My father would have appreciated it.

My dad liked slapstick: Abbot and Costello, (Dean) Martin and (Jerry) Lewis, The Addams Family, The Red Skelton Show, The Munsters…

Tommy Smothers, the funny one, passed away the day after Christmas, 2023. My father and I often watched The Smothers Brothers Comedy Show, although I don’t recall the political fallout over the show (1967-69) only that we were both sorry CBS cancelled the program.

A barrel of laughs

When we spent time together, I would often play the straight guy, and he would be the Tommy, the foil to my questions and games. As the mean teacher I often gave him, the hapless student, what I thought was a tough math problem. Rather than do it, he’d write “a lotta” on the paper, and laugh at his own cleverness. I found delight in marking his answer with a big red X.

We played hangman and drew silly pictures together. He liked to draw Kilroy. He made up a similar cartoon of a horse looking over a fence.

Laughs and grief

Yet sadness was present in his life; I often saw it in his eyes. His father died of an infection two weeks after his arm was pulled into a thresher powered by a Model T motor. I vividly remember the shock and horror when he told me the story. Farmers could be inventive but safety regulations weren’t yet a thing. My dad was just fourteen. His mother had a baby to care for. They had no insurance.

But that same farm-folk inventiveness was the key to his creativity and drive that made him a successful tool and die shop owner.

I miss you, Dad, and your silliness. It makes sense that your favorite song was a sad one. Happy Birthday in heaven. I hope you’re making the angels smile.

As you go to your home by the ocean
May you never forget those sweet hours
That we spent in the Red River Valley
And the love we exchanged mid the flowers

Come and sit by my side if you love me
Do not hasten to bid me adieu
But remember the Red River Valley
And the one that has loved you so true

Red River Valley

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Linda K. Sienkiewicz is a writer, poet, and artist:
Multi-finalist award winning novel In the Context of Love
Picture book Gordy and the Ghost Crab
Latest poetry chapbook: Sleepwalker

Connect with Linda: LinkTree