We used to sing this in primary school for singing each week. Now I have started volunteering at my local community radio station I have started playing the classics from my youth... hence the visit today. Love that piano!
Incredible! I haven't heard this song since I was 6 years old (that's 67 years ago). My dad sang it frequently when we were getting ready to move out of our one bedroom leaky trailer, into a tiny, old two bedroom, bare concrete block house in St.Petersburg, FL. This house was only better by comparison to the trailer, but my dad didn't have to work on it as much, so he could spend more time trying to keep one of the junk cars running. He began singing "Up a Lazy River" and "Nothing Could be Finer than To Be in Carolina". He seemed always happy, and never asked for much out of life; content just to be outside in nature. He loved simple old songs like "This Old House", and I loved hearing him sing it. Thanks for the memories!
Wow! Memories! My father was a big Lawrence Welk fan. Dad's love for music and singing harmony rubbed off on all of us children. He used to play piano, and had us singing quartet parts with him. RIP Dad. ❤
I heard an interview with Stuart Hamblen where he told the story behind this song and then sang it as he had written it; not how it has been recorded so many times including once by him. He wrote it as a slow song and then sang it very slowly. It takes on a very different feel and meaning when sung at a very slow tempo. To get a feel for what it sounds like, try singing it at about the tempo of Silent Night. The story he gave was that he and a friend had gone hunting in the mountains of California and had walked upon an old cabin. Many of the shingles were missing or loose. The front was just barely hanging on. There were some old and broken toys in the yard and under the porch so there must have been children there at one time. An old hound dog came out from under the porch to meet them but came to them in a begging sort of way. A hound dog won't stay around unless there are people there. The dog went up the steps onto the porch, stopped, turned, and looked at them as if to say come on, and then went into the cabin. They followed into the cabin. Inside there were some old, tattered curtains, pictures on the walls, dishes in the kitchen sink, and dishes on the table. The fireplace had ashes from a dead fire. In a creaky old chair by a window was an old man with his head against the side of the chair with a little snow on his head from a broken window pane. The dog looked up at them with a forlong look as if to ask "Can't you do something?". Stuart said, there had to have been a wife there because a bachelor would usually not have curtains and other decorations plus the toys in the yard. As they were leaving, Stuart took out a piece of paper and made some notes. From those notes is this song.
