AN ELSIES RIVER KIND OF LOVE : HAPPY ANNIVERSARY ANNETTE AND HER LINEMAN DENNIS VEAREY August is the wedding anniversary month of my now deceased mother Annette Vearey, about 13 years before the death of the love of her life, my father, Dennis. Theirs was a volatile love of often testing devotion, while struggling to survive the trails and tribulations working class life in Elsies River. When I was about 9 years old I first heard my father sing some verse from the song Wichita Lineman to my mother in the middle of a heated argument which usually calmed both tempers and sometimes seemed to reconcile them. Although Dennis Vearey was the master of theatrical diversion in that way, I think it was more the words from the chorus he sang from that song that usually had the desired effect : And I need you more than want you And I want you for all time And the Wichita Lineman is still on the line Glen Cambells version of Wichita Lineman was my fathers favourite song at the time and, in addition to playing the seven single vinyl version constantly on his PM10-battery operated encased record player with its single built-in treble speaker at full volume, we were also sometimes treated to his own operatic rendition. I think that by the age of ten I had probably memorised its lyrics to such a degree that he often asked me to sing it to my uncles at the usual Saturday afternoon dominoes game on Ouma Veareys yard in Tiervlei where my cousins and I often provided some variety show background entertainment and competed for the dj honour of keeping the music flowing on the record player. When it played, the song Wichita Lineman often had this strange effect on my uncles and their friends around the dominoes game. They would instantly quiet down into a meditative mood from a very rowdy dominoes game of kinetic banging of dominoes amidst bellows of Fortlamorgan! and Milo!, and listen in silence. I listened to this song again a few days ago while reflecting on its often out-of-place and context effect on arguments between my mother and father, a dominoes game, and very macho uncles in the Elsies River of my cradle. Maybe it speaks to who they were at a time when Apartheid and the trials of working class life in Elsies River conspired against their dreams and humanity. Perhaps the composer of the song, Jimmy Webb, explained it best at the time:- What I was really trying to say was, you can see someone working in construction or working in a field, a migrant worker or a truck driver, and you may think you know whats going on inside of him, bit you dont. You cant assume that just because someones in some menial job that they dont have dreams... or extraordinary concepts going on in their head, like I need you more than want you; and I want you for all time. You cant assume that a man isnt a poet. And that is what the song is really about. So happy anniversary to the immortal love of Dennis and Annette Vearey that moulded me. As you can see your son Jeremy, is still on the line.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 05:03:08 +0000
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