Anyone that knew me when I was a small girl knows that I LOVED chewing gum, I still do, but my daughter likes it more and always chews it up before I get a piece now!
Money was always tight but my dad always seemed to be able to squeeze out enough change for a pack of gum. One of my favorite past times was to chew gum and sit on dad's knee while he sang one of his southern ditties for me. My most favorite was his southern version of "Yankee Doodle" - oh that just made me laugh to no end!
One song for most of my childhood I thought my dad made up just for me was "Chewin Chewin Gum." It wasn't until years later that I was grown and perusing YouTube that I found the truth! Dad never claimed to author this song, I just could not believe that that song was written for anyone else but me! This version of Chewin Chewin Gum is performed by someone with ties to Fayette County, Indiana. David Akeman (AKA String Bean) was from Jackson County Kentucky.
Now, those of you not from this area will need just a short history lesson:
After WWII so many people from Jackson County Kentucky started migrating to East Central Indiana to take advantage of the then abundant factory jobs. The depression and hard times went on for many years in the hills of Kentucky - long after better times came around for other areas. Many workers would come up for a period of time and save as much money as they could and "go back home" to Kentucky to fund a better life. But there were just as many that stayed and made that better life here. Their attachments "back home", as everyone came to know Kentucky, were not any less strong than the others'. The new Indiana settlers saw a country side that at times reminded them of "back home" and at times was the farthest thing from the hard times they had known "back home."
String Bean had many friends that had come here to settle into the new factory life. He, and others, were known to come visit and stay for a while from time to time. To my knowledge this was a very quiet thing, and was not a business trip at all, just some visitin', as was done in their culture. I do not recall if I ever got to meet String Bean as I was just 4 or 5 years old at the time of his death.
I owe a lot to these people from Kentucky. They embodied showmanship, resourcefulness, hard work, and love for home and family. They also added color to my accent! We here in Fayette County are known (almost) the world over for having quite a different American English dialect! I wonder why the Discovery Channel and PBS never visit us when researching that?!
Any way, my dad always liked to make fun of my love for chewing gum when he would toss a pack of Teaberry, Rainbow Stripe, Juicy Fruit, or Big Red across the front seat of his old truck to me. I loved to wait in the truck outside the Nulltown Store at times when he would just make a quick stop for a soda pop and some gum. I had this secret desire to be there when (in my mind at least) the inevitable would happen and some one would collide at the corner of the store where the road was so narrow!
And... this was the song he almost always sang to me as I chewed and chewed my chewin' gum!
I think I'm gonna go fine me a piece of gum, and a rockin chir, and a stick fer whittlin', a whet stone, and my lil pocket knife while I listen fer a bit on 'iss....
-Suzanna
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