Music Box

Do any of you have a distinct song you remember from your childhood? A song so etched in your being that every time you hear it, no matter what the setting, it takes you back to a precise time in your early years, where you can chalk out exactly what you were doing at that moment?

See, I have one of those songs. It's from one of my favourite movies as a child, called Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with Dick Van Dyke. It's a really old movie, and I know a lot of you reading this are wondering what it's all about (I've also been talking about it to some of you lately).

It's a movie about this widowed inventor, his two children and a car (with the title name). He takes his children on a picnic to the seaside in the car, and they ask him to tell them a story. He goes on to concoct this elaborate tale of fantasy, with pirates and barons and and child-catchers (scary, believe me), and this car.

It all seemed so believable back then.

But in all honesty, this movie acted as my babysitter during numerous market trips for my mother. As the neighbours kept a watchful eye on me, I'd be perched on the edge of the couch and find myself lost in the songs and fantasy that came from the little box across the room.

One of the songs was performed by the lead actress Sally Ann Howes. She was acting as a doll on a music box, performing for the baron on his birthday. She sang a song that went something like this:

What do you see? You people gazing at me?
You see a doll on a music box that's wound by a key.
Now can you tell I'm...
Under a spell, I'm...
Waiting for loves...
First kiss!

You cannot see...
How much I long to be free...
Turning around on this music box that's wound by a key.

Yearning... yearning....
While...
I'm...
Turning around and around.

***
Her name was Truly Scrumptious!

But this song has become almost haunting to me lately. I mean, not in a bad way. It's just that as a child it was a happy song. I sang it all the time. And when I found the DVD at HMV for $6 on Friday night, I thought I'd have a chance to revisit that feeling and those memories. But as I sat there and listened to the lyrics, I truly thought "Wow... it's so sad!"

If you're interested, I found the clip on YouTube. Check it out if you have a moment:



xo
SC