When I was growing up, my mother would occasionally make meatballs and cabbage. It was never my favorite dish -- I prefer my cabbage raw -- yet I made it for my own family as they grew up. It's a simple dish of porcupine-style, rice-studded meatballs, stewed with cabbage and tomatoes.
The most appealing thing about this meal growing up was it would usually prompt my dad to sing a few bars of One Meatball, a Depression era tune recorded by The Andrews Sisters among others. Of course, I never heard a "real" version of the song until the internet came along. In fact, I wasn't even sure there was a real version. And frankly, no one else sings it like my dad. Every time I eat this dish, I hear him warbling "You don't get any bread with one meatball."
Dad isn't much of a singer, but he did have one other signature song. As with One Meatball, my dad only sang the "good part" of his other song, Jack of Diamonds. Here is the part I learned as a wee little child.
Just as I've shared the meatball cabbage meal with my family, I also passed my father's two songs along to my kids. I hope they'll remember to sing them to their kids someday too.
The most appealing thing about this meal growing up was it would usually prompt my dad to sing a few bars of One Meatball, a Depression era tune recorded by The Andrews Sisters among others. Of course, I never heard a "real" version of the song until the internet came along. In fact, I wasn't even sure there was a real version. And frankly, no one else sings it like my dad. Every time I eat this dish, I hear him warbling "You don't get any bread with one meatball."
Dad isn't much of a singer, but he did have one other signature song. As with One Meatball, my dad only sang the "good part" of his other song, Jack of Diamonds. Here is the part I learned as a wee little child.
"If the ocean was whiskey, and I was a duck/I'd dive to the bottom and never come up."This was followed by a loud hiccup. I love the complete political incorrectness of teaching that song to little kids. By the way, my father is the next thing to a teetotaler, so it's especially funny that this is "his song."
Just as I've shared the meatball cabbage meal with my family, I also passed my father's two songs along to my kids. I hope they'll remember to sing them to their kids someday too.
