Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Day 10, Barbara: A Birthday Blog

Tuesday, December 3, 1957: Earlier this week, on Sunday night, Buddy Holly and the Crickets have debuted on the Ed Sullivan Show, after taking “That’ll Be the Day” to the top of the charts. The following afternoon, in suburban Atlanta, Georgia, it’s clear and chilly; Elsie goes into labor and Bill drives her downtown to Piedmont Hospital. At 4:04 the next morning, they have a baby girl. They call her Barbara Ann—not a family name (there hasn’t been a Barbara Brannon in the line since 1753, just one they happen to like (Barbara is the seventh most popular name for girls that year). It will be some years before either the Regents or the Beach Boys make it a musical hit. This Barbara even predates Mattel’s Barbie doll by a couple of years.

Grandma Brannon especially rejoices. “She’s the first girl born into the Brannon family in fifty-seven years,” she takes to bragging; not since my great-aunt Fannie Lou arrived in 1900 has there been anything but a regular crop of rambunctious boys.

So here I am fifty-seven years later, alive and well in Lubbock, Texas, where several of my family have also relocated. The ’57 Chevy is a classic. So am I, then, I suppose. In the hometown of Buddy Holly I’m grateful to begin another year on the planet. Here’s wishing for a good one! Not just “That’ll be the day”—the sardonic phrase uttered by John Wayne in The Searchers that inspired that bunch of young musicians way back when—but “Everyday,” another of those great 1957 hits.

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