During this time of year, our thoughts turn to apple pie, apple butter, apple sauce, etc. Years ago when I was single, I had an Apple computer and an idea for a satirical song I didn’t get around to writing. At our last Behind Our Eyes writers’ group meeting, it was suggested as a prompt that we write about apples, and the idea re-surfaced.
“Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree” was a song I sang many times in the fifteen years I worked as a registered music therapist in a nursing home. It was made popular by Glenn Miller and the Andrews Sisters during World War II. You can learn more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Sit_Under_the_Apple_Tree_(with_Anyone_Else_but_Me) . To hear the original Andrews Sisters version, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPJZTRqQ1Xw .
Nowadays, in light of our troops in the Middle East and today’s technology, this is how the song might have been written. Click on the link below to hear me sing it.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15213189/start%20up%20apple%20computer.mp3
DON’T START UP YOUR APPLE COMPUTER
I e-mailed Mother.
I e-mailed Father.
Now I am e-mailing you.
I love my mother.
I love my father,
and you know I love you too.
Don’t start up your Apple computer with anyone else but me,
anyone else but me,
anyone else but me, no, no, no,
don’t start up your Apple computer with anyone else but me
till you come flying home.
Don’t go surfing the Internet with anyone else but me,
anyone else but me,
anyone else but me, no, no, no,
don’t go surfing the Internet with anyone else but me,
till you come flying home.
You’re on your own, but you’re not alone
in that desert far away.
Be true to me if you care for me
and listen when I say,
“Don’t start up your Apple computer with anyone else but me
till you come flying home,
till you, till you come flying home.”
What do you remember about apples?
Abbie Johnson Taylor, Author of We Shall Overcome, How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver, and That’s Life: New and Selected Poems
My Corner 
Another wonderful and insightful post. God bless all of our bravest around the world. May they come home and have a slice of apple pie soon. When I was a boy, my father used to bring home a large wooden crate full of apples every October. I remember running by the crate in the kitchen and reaching in to grab an apple on my way outside to play, coming home from school, or just wandering around the house like a little kid looking for something to do. When my mother made apple pie or apple sauce, she would holler to me and ask if I wanted any of the peelings. I would run out to the kitchen and grab a handful from a bowl on the counter top. What a life! What a fruit! What a post! Great job!
dp Deon Lyons http://www.dplyons.wordpress.com
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Thank you, Deon, for sharing your memories of apples and sentiment for our troops.
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Hi, Abbie–I thoroughly enjoyed your lyrics and your musical performance. What a nice apple treat! Take care–Alice
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I love hearing the Andrews Sisters sing when I was a little girl. Your parody of their song is cute. I love apple pie and the smell of apples cooking, but I never enjoyed eating apples. I wish I did. I did like the peelings when I was a kid. Now I like fried apple pies.
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Thank you, Glenda, for sharing your apple memories. Happy eating.
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