Don’t Worry · Marty Robbins · 1961

  Play the song.  

In the summer of 1959, my parents moved their young family into a new house in a new neighborhood. Our new home was big. We had four bedrooms, two full- and two half-baths, formal living room and dining room, a large family room, two car garage, and a separate area that was perfect for my father’s mother to live in. The house sat on a huge lot that my father began to extensively landscape to perfection. Dad’s business was prospering, as was the post-war economy of the nation as a whole, so we were looking forward to wonderful times ahead.

But unfortunately, the euphoria didn’t last for long. In a few months my dad was diagnosed with a type of lymphoma. Suddenly, he was aware that his time was short, and his life became a whirlwind of activities, doctors appointments, and details. But he tried to assure Mom, who was understandably distraught, by asking her not to worry about him. The Good Lord would help her through. He taught her how to drive, and bought her a car. He helped prepare her for a future without him. And he did the best he could do for us kids.

In the few years he had left, he made a point of attempting to leave an imprint on our young minds. My sister, who was about five years old at the time he died, doesn’t remember a lot about her father, but she does remember a private lunch the two of them had together at a local cafeteria, where they shared a piece of strawberry pie.

He took my little brother and myself—when we were abvout seven and nine—on trips out into the rural countryside and taught us how to fire a rifle and do other “manly” things. He took us on camping trips to make memories. And he taught us how to be responsible. He bought a special crank-started power mower and lawn edger—tools that wouldn’t need a grown man’s strength to pull a starter cord—and taught his young sons how to take over his landscaping chores. He assured Mom that she needn’t worry, her boys would be able to take care of the yard for her. Which we did from then on.

But his health continued to deteriorate. He endured radiation and chemotherapy. And it is during the times of these medical treatments that these music memories exist in my child’s mind.

He would be home sick in bed for days. We children were not allowed to pester him in any way whatsoever. But the sounds of the radio would eminate from our parent’s bedroom. The old AM station WRR in Dallas would play the popular music of the day. And so it is that this collection of dissimilar songs, that are otherwise not associated in any way, have come to be associated in my child’s mind to this day.

My dad died on August 25, 1963, the day after my twelfth birthday.

“Don’t Worry“, which was a #3 single for Marty Robbins in 1961, was special for my mother throughout the sixties, because, I believe, it reminded her of my dad.

Marty Robbins CDs

Early in 1963, this song peaked at position #2 on the singles chart, making it a big hit for Skeeter Davis.

  The End Of The World · Skeeter Davis · 1963

The Essential Skeeter Davis