Memory, A Mysterious Thing

Last night, I was putting away a box of wooden alphabet letters that my grandson had been playing with.  I shook it and sang "letters, we get letters, we get stacks and stacks of letters.  Dear ______, would you be so kind, to fill a request and sing the song I like best?"

Now I have a question for all of you.  I know the younger ones won't know, but those from the fifties?  What T.V. show is that song from and who is the singer whose name fits in the blank?  There's no prize except the title of "Boomer Trivia Extroardinaire."  Here's one clue:  the letters mentioned are letters in the mail, that you put a stamp on, not alphabet letters.

None of the 14  people at our house knew the answer.  So what I want to know is, how and why did that little jingle get into my head at that time?  I haven't thought of that singer and certainly not the show for ages and ages.  My son, Ben, said that songs and jingles stay in your head.  That's why they are so good at advertising.  At which point my daughter, Dawn, (who is home again, yeah) sang a building advert. with the phone number and all.  And someone else, son, Joe, I think sang another ad to prove the point.

But why would I remember something long buried from an old  program?  I just don't get it.  I know that I can still sing the Greek and German alphabets even though I learned the German one in 7th grade.  I can sing the books of the Old Testament.  That's how I can look things up quickly.  I learned those when I was about seven.  I can remember old lullabies and verses of songs from the sixties and old hymns.  I can remember tunes like The Twelfth Of Never.

Now before you think I am bragging, I admit that I rarely remember dates, the numbers that go with my scriptures, geography or lots of history.  If you put these in a song, I probably could. So that explains it I guess.  I can remember most things that were sung, even long ago.  That still doesn't explain the "why" question.  Why did I sing that song then?  It's a mystery.

If you have an answer for my little quiz, I'll reveal all in my next post leaving many young people to say "what?"  "who?"  I may think of another question for my "Boomer Trivia Extroardinaire" to answer some time in the future.