The Bear & square-note singing
The Rookie sang a Sacred Harp song in the choir for the first time Sunday, which reminded him of this (true) story from long ago…
When The Rookie was a teenager, he worked in his father’s truck garage after school. An older gentleman named Mr. C also worked there. Mr. C enjoyed Sacred Harp music so much that he spent almost every weekend travelling to different rural churches that would have a special program of this music. These special programs were called “Square Note singings” after the shaped notes in the sheet music.
On a few of these weekends, Mr. C met Bear Bryant, the famous University of Alabama football coach. Bear grew up in a church that sang the Sacred Harp music, and he would attend 6 to 8 “Square Note singings” a year in the off-season. Mr. C and the Bear became good friends.
There was an upcoming “Square Note singing” over in Mississippi that both Mr. C and Bear had attended before, and Mr. C called Bear a couple of months before to see if he wanted to attend. Bear said sure, and “come on over to Tuscaloosa and we can take my car over to the church“.
When the weekend arrived, Mr. C drove to the Bear’s house to pick him up. Bear was a little late getting home and tired, so he threw Mr. C the keys to his car, and said “Squimp” (this was what the Bear called Mr. C), “You know where we are going, so you can drive.”
The Bear had a brand-new big black Mercedes coupe, and Mr. C had never driven such a nice car before. Soon they were out on the highway doing about 85 towards Mississippi.
After a couple of minutes, the Bear said “Squimp, we’re not moving very fast. Is there something wrong with this car?”
Mr. C. said “What do you mean, Paul?” (this is what Mr. C called the Bear, which was his given name). “It’s a great car and we’re going 85!”
The Bear then said, “Now Squimp, I’ve got some folks who work for me that have put the word out about this car. There is not a State Trooper in Alabama or Mississippi that will pull this car over.”
Mr. C said they made the rest of the trip doing between 100 and 120 without a bit of a problem. :-)