Sunday, July 8, 2012

Hello Linda


From 1941 to 1963, according to this site, Linda was one of the top 5 girls names. The year I was born, Linda was #3. That's a lot of Lindas! From 1st grade on, I was never the only Linda in the room.  Now this has its good points and bad points. The bad side is that it causes a lot of confusion. Can you imagine living in George Foreman's house, with his 5 sons all named George?  Having a popular name can sometimes make you feel less unique as a person. Pick a Linda, any Linda will do.
On the good side, you hear your name used in the popular culture. I was thrilled to watch Make Room For Daddy with Angela Cartwright's character named Linda.


And I remember my dad singing this song to me when I was young.


If you're wondering, as I was, about the Linda in the video, you can read The Story Behind The Song. While you're there, check out the other songs written by Jack Lawrence. Some of my favorites are Beyond the Sea, Tenderly and If I Didn't Care. Linda has been recorded by 19 different artist including Perry Como and Jan and Dean (didn't care for their version.)

Now if you've read my blog for a bit, you might know that I have always been a fan of The Monkees. But until my son became a Monkees fan a few years ago, I didn't know that they had recorded a 'Linda' song.


The slow version was the one originally released but I like this upbeat version even better.



Does it matter that the Linda in this song isn't especially nice? Not when it's being sung by Davy Jones. Davy had a sister named Linda and it was also his first wife's name. 
Barry Manilow recorded (and wrote?) A Linda Song.
Gordon Lightfoot recorded Oh, Linda.
I have a good friend, Mavis who has the opposite situation. Her name was #954 the year we were born. I don't know of any Mavis songs but I always remind her that when Bert dances with the penguins in Mary Poppins, the first name he sings is Mavis. It's just too much fun not to add it here.


Was your name in there?
Do you know a song with your name? 

6 comments:

Tammy's in Love said...

Well, it' interesting to know the stats on your name! In my graduating class there were only two Tammys and considering we were born the year of the song that's low in a class of 1,000! Now that I blog I'm meeting lots of Tammys! My given name is Tamra (no a in the middle), try spelling that for awhile and you'd be happy you were named something everyone knew how to spell! Smile...

Anonymous said...

Well, I heard a lot of "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" teasing when I was growing up! :)

retrorevival.biz said...

Fun post, Linda:) Bet you'll be interested to know that I met Davy Jones a few years ago at a corporate event; he sang and was very nice (and extremely short!). As a child, my dad used to sing Ricky Nelson's "Get Along Home Cindy, Cindy" to me!

~Cindy

LBP said...

Hello Linda, nice to meet you. My name is Linda too! There were five of us in my graduating class of 1979. I was born in 1961. I had friends who would sing Conway Twitty's "Lying here with Linda on my mind" song to me and it would drive me crazy! BTW when I was born my Mom and Dad were going to name me Drenda Leanna. My Grandfather put a stop to that right away! So they came up with Linda Sue!

Blessings
Linda (too)

Little Susie Home Maker said...

Oh, Linda! That is the cutest post! I sure did enjoy all the videos! i was really getting into Dick Van Dyke, too. Over here giggling while I am wearing the headphones, and my family thinks I am nuts! I sure enjoyed this one. It is funny you did this, because I have pondered whether or not it would be a good idea to do a post on Susie songs! There are so many!! I have been sung them all, Ha ha. It's okay. Having a common name, you re the only Linda Ruthie I know!
Blessings,
Susie

Barbara said...

I have a friend who taught his son to sing "Barbara Ann" in my honor - even though I'm a Barbara Jean. I didn't have any Lindas in my grade at school, as far as I can remember, but now I have two good friends named Linda, and I always need to specify which one I'm talking about. There aren't a lot of Barbaras any more either.