A musical bouquet of roses for Mother's Day
I couldn’t let Mother’s Day pass without some appropriate music.
Instead of finding a song with “mother” in it, I started thinking about flowers, since they're such a part of the day -- and which I sure hope someone else got for my mother, ‘cause Robert and I are only bearing food when we head down to Northern Virginia to spend the day with her and the rest of the small clan at Chez Smith. And, since my mother’s given name happens to be Rose, that got me to thinking about one of the loveliest of all ballads, “Roses of Picardy.”
I’ve had a soft spot for sentimental tunes of the late 19th and early 20th centuries since I was a teen – go figure – and I still find them impossible to resist, at least when sensitively sung. And I think “Roses of Picardy” represents a perfect fusion of words and melody. These lines seem particularly appropriate today:
Roses are shining in Picardy
In the hush of the silvery dew,
Roses are flow'ring in Picardy,
But there's never a rose like you.
Here, then, a bouquet of sonic roses for my mother -- there's never been a Rose like her -- and for all treasured mothers on this day. To deliver this bouquet, I chose the exquisite voice of Richard Tauber, who gives this song a particularly eloquent touch:
