Elvira

So there we were .. yappin and joking away on ventrilo like we normally do in the evening. I couldn't remember where one of our guildmates was from, so I asked. Turns out he was from PA. That prompted my favorite guild hottie to ask where exactly in PA as she is also from there. Their discussion on places they both new ended with her saying that her hometown was Elmira. I'm going to paraphrase the end of this conversation with the names changed to protect the wicked: (N=NoobRogue, GH=Guild Hottie, M=Me)

N: Im from blahblah town.
GH: Oh, I know where that is. I am from Elmira.. its up by BlahBlahSomePlaceInPA.
N: I think I know where that is. Isn't is spelled wierd with like a silent Pf in front of it .. like Pfelmira?
GH: Nope, its just Elmira with an E at the start, but it was often called Hellmira.
M: Elmira? Isn't that a song by the Oak Ridge Boys?
*Crickets*
*Dead Silence*
M: Anyone? Oak Ridge Boys? Cmon.....
*Stunned Silence*

I don't know if it's just because I'm getting old now compared to some of my guildmates or they just have never heard of the Oak Ridge Boys, but no one knew what I was talking about. Even after I said I was talking about the song Elvira by them, still wasn't helping. So to help everyone out, here you go:



Ok.. ok. Watching it again now. It's hoakey. It's cheesy. And it has great lyrics like:

Gideeeupa MmmmBoppa MmmmmBoppa MmmmBoppa MowwwMowww
Gideeeupa MmmmBoppa MmmmmBoppa MmmmBoppa MowwwMowww
Hiiiiii Ho Silver .. Awaaaaayy!
My Hearts on Fiiiiire .. for Elvira!

So how can I like this song after railing on the OG Kanye West? If I had never heard either of the two songs and you asked me which I would rather listen to again, I would definitely pick Stronger by Kanye as it is definitely more up my alley as far as musical tastes go. However, I have a deep seated love for Elvira. The song, not the Mistress of the Dark as seen below.



You know how there are always those songs that trigger some kind of great memory? This is one of those songs for me. See when I was a kid living in upstate NY, I used to go up and stay with my grandmother for a week or two in the summertime. Quite often my cousins would come up from VA and stay there as well. She had a huge house and I would share a room with my cousin Jamie and my sister and my cousin Jan would share a room. These two rooms were up a half flight of stairs from the living room on the main floor. Close enough to the stereo there to be heard from the two rooms without it having to be too crazy loud. Now I love my Grandmother to death, but her collection of popular music was, well, lacking is a nice way to put it. She had one tape that we could tolerate. It was the Oak Ridge Boys. The only song we really liked on it was Elvira.

So picture this if you will. I had some kickass Transformer sheets on my bed and Jamie was usually rocking the Dukes of Hazzard sheets if I remember right. We would have our door open enough so that we could hear the music as would the girls in their room. From the upstairs you could here 4 kids sinigng at the top of their lungs:

Gideeeupa MmmmBoppa MmmmmBoppa MmmmBoppa MowwwMowww
Gideeeupa MmmmBoppa MmmmmBoppa MmmmBoppa MowwwMowww
Hiiiiii Ho Silver .. Awaaaaayy!
My Hearts on Fiiiiire .. for Elvira!

Oh I'm sure it was a truly stunning sound. My Grandmother.. bless her soul .. would not only tolerate the racket, but would rewind and play it again for us over and over til she decided that it was time for us to go to sleep. Of course by sleep she meant it was time for us to shut our doors and leave her alone. Jamie and I would stay up for hours talking. I now think that cutoff time must have been some kind of breaking point for my Grandmother. As a parent now, I know there are times when you hit that point. I can almost picture that sweet little woman sitting down in the living room gritting her teeth and thinking to herself "If those damn kids don't shut the hell up about the damn Elvira song and go to sleep, there will be beatings. Oh yes, there will be beetings! And then I will pull all of the tape out of that Oak Ridge Boys cassette and use it to bind them and gag them so they will stop singing that stupid MmmmBoppa chorus before I go insane. I'm so nice and kind, I can just play the bruises from the beatings off as playtime injuries. I can get away with it. I used to like the Oak Ridge Boys but the damn kids have ruined it for me forever!"

Now don't get me wrong, I have never once heard anything remotely like that come out of my Grandmother's mouth. She was as sweet as they come. Made us everything we like to eat, took us fun places, played endless board and card games with us and in general gave us a trove of wonderful memories from the times spent up there. I just look back at those kinds of things now as a parent and wonder .. what was she really thinking?

Hmmm.. now I wish I could fly out and visit my Grandmother for some nice company, a chocolate Jumble cookie and maybe even a few choruses of MmmmBoppa MmmmBoppa Moww**THUMP** Ok ok Grandma, don't thump me again. No more singing Elvira.. I promise!