Friday, May 1, 2009

Undisputed Truth from Mama 'Nem: OSF Family Reunion

On the reading list for our youth at my church is a favorite of mine: Mama Used To Say: Wit and Wisdom from the Heart and Soul. By Hannibal B. Johnson.

An abundant supply of words of wisdom are sure to be found at any inter-generational gathering. Old folks are not shy in passing these pearls along. You will remember some of them:

"Feed your enemies with a long-handled spoon." "Words are like toothpaste – once you get them out, there’s no putting them back in." Or, "You can always find an empty seat on a bus going in the wrong direction," "An eye for an eye leaves everybody blind."

Some of those which I passed on to my daughters were: "Don’t get your honey where you make your money." "Finance before romance." "Success doesn’t come to you. You go to it." "The only way to have peace in a relationship is to know how to butter your own bread." "Love whom you will, marry whom you must, but in God only – put your trust." "Too soon we get old; too late we get smart."

Here is another pearl of wisdom which came to us even in much of our Old School music:


The Undisputed Truth



But while the old folks were passing out wisdom, young folk were more interested in
groovin' and finger poppin' with the likes of Johnny Taylor's Disco Lady:

14 comments:

Unknown said...

LOL! Loving your pearls of wisdom, especially "Don't get your Honey where you Make your money"!! Classic!

Great picks, smilin faces takes me way back to Brooklyn! I was never a fan of Disco Lady but it was catchy!

Anonymous said...

Happy OSF Rev!

I gotta say I'm kinda with Regina on Disco Lady, but Undisputed Truth..?? OH YEAH. I'm right there with ya on that one. One of those songs where it wasn't just the music but the message that got ya.

Vérité Parlant said...

Good advice. Rev. I think Smiling Faces would start quite a conversation at a family gathering. :-) Disco Lady! My aunt would hit the lawn dancing on that one. Happy OSF!

Old School Fridays said...

"Skake It Up, Shake It Down, Move It In and Move It Around, Disco Lady"

Oohh Revy! Tsk tsk tsk.

My husband and I use to listen to a live band every Thurday Night, and they would cover this Johnny song; One of my favorites and one of my mothers. You could not keep her off the dance floor when this song was played.

Yes, I still finger pop, to it...

Hey Shae! said...

Ooh Disco Lady was the jam. That would have gone over well during one of my family jams. :-)

achoiceofweapons said...

Well. this was cool Double R!
How are you?
Your Celtics are certainly battling it out!
Jaycee

Unknown said...

Happy OSF! Smilin' Faces is outstanding choice. Undisputed Truth ain't never lied with the lyrics from that song!

I invite your blog readers to get their mind right with the mellow sounds of Kool and the Gang. Only visit if you can handle summer madness...

peace, Villager

Hagar's Daughter said...

I just told my husband: There's always room on a bus that's traveling in the wrong direction." He said, "Okay, Mummsie [his grandmother]."

Now, throw a veggie burger on the grill and keep the music playing!

Happy OSF.

pjazzypar said...

Go ahead Rev with yo bad self. I love Disco Lady. I was actually at this club in Toledo (I think it was on Ashland and Bancroft) when I first heard the song. Not that brought back some memories! Happy OSF.

Anonymous said...

I learned something again this week from you. Thank you.

Happy OSF Rev :)

Marvalus said...

I love that Undisputed Truth cut...and again, that Johnnie taylor was ALWAYS playing somewhere at the reunions we held!

Happy OSF!

PPR_Scribe said...

UNDISPUTED TRUTH--"you make your own heaven and hell right here on earth..." Yeah, baby, that's the stuff! LOL

I cannot believe I do not have that on any of my playlists. As soon as I come off of iTunes lockdown I'll have to rectify that...

Thanks for the reminder!

SjP said...

"Mama 'Nem" Love it!!!

I just love how you weave a message into your picks! And I'm over hear doing some Chicago-stepping to Smiling Faces. Course back in my day we use to call it the Bop LOL!

SjP said...

Left you a little something...