Comments By Ken MacLeod
 

I am a high school teacher in Abbotsford, BC, and have been a teacher for
the past 29 years. I am also a historian, having written approximately
10,000 words for the newly-published "Encyclopedia of BC" among other
writings. I was the Military Consultant for the encyclopedia and also
wrote a 500 word article on music festivals in BC. I do extensive oral
history, presently working on three history projects/ books, An Oral
History of the West Coast Salmon Industry , a history of South Vancouver/
John Oliver High School, and BC Goes to War: a History of the Military in
British Columbia. I also do extensive photography and produce videos on
the various veterans' trips that I conduct. I have a Master's Degree in
Education.

I was born in South Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on January 19,
1944. We listened to the radio as did most families during those days. My
father who was born in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, and who spoke Gaelic,
loved to sing and dance. He also liked to tune in weekly programs such as
"Barn Dance," "Prairie Schooner" (CBC, country fiddle orchestra), and the
"Grand Ole Opry." In addition to these programs, one of the major radio
stations in the Vancouver area (CKNW - 980 am) was a country music station
owned by Bill Rea. Their main country music deejay was Joe Chesney, who is
still living not far from me in Langley, BC. Through this radio station,
we heard all the best in country music. I remember on Christmas Day, 1949,
hearing the Sons of the Pioneers on the radio and really enjoying them
singing, "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" or a similar song. I recall also hearing a
song by a Hank, and thinking to myself, "There are three Hanks." I don't
know which one was singing that day, but I knew later that the three Hanks
were: Hank Snow, Hank Williams, and Hank Thompson.

I always liked country music. Which young fellow didn't like cowboy music
at that age with a weekly menu of westerns on the Saturday matinee at the
local South Vancouver (Fraser) movie theatre. Most Saturdays there would
be a movie with Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, or one of a
number of western stars. The aforementioned three were our favorites. I
owned a set of Gene Autry holsters and cap guns with a Roy Rogers hat and
shirt. I loved their musical numbers such as Roy's "Me and My Teddy Bear,"
"Fuzzy Wuzzy Was a Bear," and "Happy Trails" and Gene's "Peter
Cottontail," "Back in the Saddle," and "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer."

When I was ten years old and in the fourth grade, I remember returning
home one spring evening from Little League Baseball tryouts and hearing a
record that my mother had brought home. The record was a 10" 33 1/3 rpm
record entitled, "All Time Hits from the Hills" by Eddy Arnold.
Apparently, my mother and father were invited to a party at their friend's
house. My mother knew her friend liked country music, so she went into
Ward's Music, kitty-corner to Eaton's Department Store where she worked
and asked an employee if they could recommend a record in country music.
The employee suggested the Arnold record.

I remember kneeling by the good hi-fi console that my mother had purchased
to play one of her more than five hundred 78 and 45 rpm records. From that
moment I identified with Mr. Arnold's voice and became an ardent fan of
his music. I would play this record over and over. My mother, who was not
really fond of country music prior to this time, also became a fan of
country music from this record.

When we purchased a television in 1955, our family could hardly wait each
week for Eddy's television program. I used to think that it was called
"Anytime" and was a weekly fifteen minute program. Now I know it was
likely "Eddy Arnold Time," although I do not recall other singers or
actors on the show. As I recall, Eddy sang songs and would say a friendly
goodbye to his viewers until next week. I can still visualize him saying,
"Goodbye." He must have had a lot of personal charm and charisma or have
left a lasting impression with his music because that scene is very firmly
planted in my memory. We watched this program until approximately 1956
when I believe it was discontinued.

My mother would bring home some of the songs that made an impression. One
of these was the "Lovebug Itch." My mother also purchased a green vinyl 45
rpm entitled,  "Call Her Your Sweetheart," with a "Bundle of Southern
Sunshine" on the flipside. Even though I have never heard "Call Her Your
Sweetheart" played except in the confines of our home, I regard this as
one of Eddy's best recordings and symbolic of all that is best in Eddy
Arnold's voice. The song has such strong sincerity, smooth quality, and
quality integration of country music instruments with a natural singing
voice that it grips me to the bone everytime I hear it. In recent years I
have managed to get a mint copy of this record through an auction
conducted by the wife Bob Pinson of the Country Music Library, Nashville.

The Illustrated History of Country Music, by the Editors of Country
Music, edited by Patrick Carr, Random House, Toronto, 1995, p. 205, states, "It was after the coming of Tubb, however, that the floodgates seemed to open, beginning in 1944 with
the brightest new star of country music, Eddy Arnold, whose plaintive,
evocative voice was a marvel of heartbreaking ingenuousness, its achingly
beautiful tones never really captured on record." If this true, considering how well Eddy Arnold's voic was reproduced on record, it must have been quite a remarkable voice to hear in person.

I never heard Eddy Arnold in person. I know he visited Vancouver about
1967. I heard about the visit afterwards from the mother of a girl that I
chummed with whose mother loved Eddy Arnold and who attended the concert,
but I do remember Tommy Hunter, who hosted a long-running country music
program on CBC television, relating in his autobiography about attending
an Eddy Arnold concert in the late '40s or early '50s and going up to the
stage after the concert and laying his hand on the stage in order to further
enshrine in his person the wonderful music that he had heard. Through
reading about Tommy laying his hand on the stage, I can imagine what one
of Eddy concerts would have been like. A recent Elvis biographer also
related a time when Elvis appeared on the same show as Eddy Arnold and the
Jordanaires and how Elvis longed for the day when he could sing like Mr.
Arnold with the Jordanaires. Such was the awe that Eddy Arnold and his
music created.

When I was eleven and twelve, I was also a big fan of Eddie Fisher. This
was in the days before rock 'n roll took hold of most of the pop music
scene. In fact stores used to sell packets of Eddie Fisher trading cards,
and I used to buy these. When I bought my second Eddy Arnold album,
"Anytime," at the age of about 13 (I used to make $3.00 delivering flyers
each Saturday morning), I saw the songs "Anytime" and "I'll Hold You in My
Heart" (two of my long-time favorite Eddy Arnold songs and two of Eddie
Fisher's big hits), I realized that Eddy had recorded these songs some
years before which further endeared Eddy Arnold's music to me.

During the years 12 - 15 and following, I was a big fan of rock 'n roll,
especially Elvis, whose records I also collected. I would spend
considerable time looking through records at various music store. I didn't
have much money, but spent a lot of what I made on records. 12" LPs were
$3.98 plus tax for many years; 78 and 45 rpm singles were $1.00 each and
45 EPAs were $1.49. I bought most of the single Eddy Arnold records (I
couldn't always afford the LPs, although I retained them in my memory for
future consideration and was able to eventually obtain copies of all them
in mint or very good condition through various record collector shows,
auctions, and used record sales.  I came across especially by age 15 when
I made a little more money from part-time and summer jobs. The first Eddy
Arnold LP I bought was "Wanderin'." I loved Eddy's renditions of "Red
River Valley," "Home on the Range," and "Down in the Valley" with Roy
Wiggins' signature electric guitar in the background. Even during the rock
'n roll era, Eddy remained my favorite singer.

I remember during my early-mid teens buying the album, "My Darling, My
Darling." This album was done by Eddy during his early attempts to
experiment with pop music. While listening to the song, "Two Sleepy
People," and hearing the words, "We're out of cigarettes...," I was
shocked. Later I knew this to be a famous Fats Waller tune, sung by Bob
Hope and others, but at that time, I couldn't envision Eddy Arnold singing
such words, so sadly I took the record, broke it, and through it in the
garbage. It was only a few years ago that I was able to secure this album
again, one of the last 12" albums of Eddy's 50s music, lacking in my
collection. But then, I looked upon Eddy, based on the photos in his
songbooks, music, and television appearances as a strong family and
church-going man with high moral values, somebody I looked upon as a role
model for youngsters like myself. This was later more true as my own
father died of cancer one week afteer my 13th birthday.

From the ages of 15 to 18, Joe Chesney, the former country and western
disc jockey on CKNW 980 am had moved over to do a two hour evening country
and western music program on CJOR 600 am in Vancouver, the former station
having dropped its country and western theme after Bill Rae sold the
station. Joe was a big fan of Eddy Arnold and had a very good country and
western library. Joe used to take weekly requests from listeners who wrote
in. He also promoted a live country and western show utilizing local
talent one Sunday evening a month in South Vancouver, as well as
appearances in town by big names such as Jim Reeves, Kitty Wells, Don
Gibson, Little Jimmy Dickens, Hank Snow, and the yodelling Wilf Carter or
Montana Slim who performed into his mid or late eighties and was to
Canadian country music what Jimmie Rodgers was to American country music.
Joe familiarized me with a lot of good country music and Eddy Arnold
numbers that I hadn't heard before, including frequent playings of Eddy's
mother songs, mostly "M-O-T-H-E-R" and "That Wonderful Mother of Mine." It
was one of my happiest moments when I received from Bob Pinson of the
Nashville Country Music Library (on a tip from Doug Greene of Riders in
the Sky) a 45 rpm album containing three green vinyl records of Eddy's
mother songs.

Regards,

Ken

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