Saturday 9: A Sleepin' Bee (1957)
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.
1) This song is about the wonder of first love. How would you describe the sensation of falling in love?
A. It's like seeing the moon for the first time, coming across the Grand Canyon without knowing it is there, or walking through virgin woods.
2) This 1957 album was the first Diahann Carroll ever recorded. More recently she recorded "A, You're Adorable," a nursery rhyme. (The lyrics are here.) Give us some words to a children's song that remain in your head to this day.
A. Daisy, Daisy, give us your answer, do. I'm half crazy, all for the love of you. It won't be a stylish marriage, I can't afford a carriage. But you'll look sweet upon the seat of a bicycle built for two.
My grandmother used to sing that to us grandchildren when we'd come to her, all teary from some fall or harsh word. She's swoop us up into her arms, plop down in the rocker, and sing.
3) 1957 was the peak of the Baby Boom (1946 to 1964). Are you a Boomer, a Gen X-er, a Gen Y-er, or a Millennial?
A. I am at the end of the Boomers, but I have never thought I was a boomer. I've always considered those us born from about 1960 - 1968 to be a sort of lost generation. Marketers refer to us Generation Jones, which is not a moniker I care for. They consider that to be from 1954 to 1965.
4) In 1974, Diahann was named to the Best Coiffed Hall of Fame by the Guild of Professional Beauticians. How often do you change your look?
A. However often time makes more wrinkles and more gray hair. I personally never change a thing.
5) Ms. Carroll made history as Julia in the first network TV show to star a black woman. She played a nurse. Do you/have you ever worked in the healthcare profession?
A. No. I don't have the personality for it.
6) She also played glamorous, scheming Dominique Deveraux on the nighttime soap, Dynasty. Who is the most memorable female villain you've ever seen in a TV show or movie?
A. Cruella Deville in the cartoon version of Disney's 101 Dalmatians.
7) Ms. Carroll began her career as a model. Her height (nearly 6' tall) is an asset in that profession. Are you pleased with your height? Or do you wish you were taller, or shorter?
A. At 5' 2" and shrinking, I wouldn't mind just a little more height.
8) Now in her 80th year, she keeps on working. Recently she's appeared on TV in Grey's Anatomy and Blue Collar and on the big screen in Tyler Perry Presents Peeples. How do you feel about retirement? Is it something you enjoy or look forward to? Or would you prefer to continue working?
A. I would like to continue working though health issues have derailed all of my plans. I had started an effort to teach at the college level when I started my downward health spiral and ultimately had to give that up. I'm still doing freelance writing but nowhere near as much as I once did.
9) In her long movie career, Ms. Carroll has played love scenes with some very good looking men, including Sidney Poitier and Billy Dee Williams. If you could steal a kiss from any actor or actress, who would choose?
A. I wouldn't mind a kiss from Orlando Bloom, so long as he is dressed like Legolas from Lord of the Rings. And I would like to get a hug from Oprah.
I am the first wave of Gen-X and it fits my career path. I don't think I could work in the health field, either, unless it's a paperwork-ish job.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link. I've worked for three major ad agencies, targeting everything from sunscreens and moisturizers to life insurance and the auto club to Boomers, and I've never heard any client or a market researcher use that moniker. I'm going to have ask around at work why that is.
ReplyDeleteI learned "Daisy, Daisy" in first or second grade. I haven't thought of that music teacher in years, but thinking of "Daisy" made me recall her so clearly.
Whenever I hear the song Daisy I think of HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha a hug from Oprah! Love it!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the generations thing. I think there are too many years included in each one. I sit at the late Gen x and feel like my "story" is quite different than those at the early end. The boomers are such a large span too to make such sweeping generalizations.
I had not heard of Generation Jones, but "less optimism, distrust of government, and general cynicism" certainly describes me and those in my general age group. Those characteristics even showed up in my answers to this week's questions....before I read yours! :-)
ReplyDeleteI saw the deer in your new banner and it reminded me of this morning when I was on a walk with a friend on a nature trail and a baby deer came out of nowhere and ran across the path. I hope that baby is okay. And yes, a hug from the Big "O" would be wonderful!
ReplyDeleteA hug from Oprah would be fun. We are the same height, which surprises me a little because almost everyone is taller than I am. I love that song, Daisy, that you posted. I learned it when I was in graduate school. :)
ReplyDelete