Front Porch: Siblings, the original influencers

The term “influencer” has worked its way into our vocabulary, but long before social media sprouted TikTokers and Instagrammers, many of us had other influencers – namely older siblings.

As the youngest of four, my sister and two brothers are six, 11 and 13 years older . They all jetted out of the family home by their late teens, yet their influence on my musical tastes proved long-lasting.

To wit, I may be one of the few Gen Xers who can sing every verse of “Where Have All the Flowers Gone,” a song written by Pete Seeger 10 years before my birth.

At age 6, I knew all the verses of “Puff the Magic Dragon,” and at that tender age, my eyes grew teary when I sang:

A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys

Painted wings and giant’s rings make way for other toys

One gray night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more

And Puff, that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar

It might have been prophetic because I grew up to birth four sons who did not stay little boys for long.

Those songs, along with the music of Three Dog Night, Joan Baez, Janis Ian and Bob Dylan, came to me courtesy of my oldest brother, David.

He came home from one year of Bible college in California with shoulder-length hair, a bushy beard and some wonderful albums. I thought he looked just like Jesus if Jesus wore black-framed glasses.

In the short time he lived in our South Hill home before decamping to the University of Idaho, he let me listen to his albums on his record player (we didn’t have anything fancy like a stereo) and even better, he’d play his guitar and let me sing along.

Not all the tunes he taught me were from popular music. At his knee, I also learned “Away, Away with Rum by Gum (The Song of the Salvation Army)” and “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.”

Decades later, I sing a lot to my grandkids, and most of the songs I trace back to David.

My brother Jon’s contribution to my musical history is decidedly briefer and less tuneful.

Jon played the kazoo – loudly and usually at inappropriate times. On a family vacation to Glacier National Park, he rolled down the car window and tooted his kazoo at a bicyclist, which resulted in her toppling off her bike.

“Jonathan!” Mom scolded. “You kazooed that girl right off her bicycle!”

My sister’s musical influence is the reason I know all of the lyrics to “Muskrat Love,” but I’ve forgiven her.

That’s because she also introduced me to the music of John Denver. From “Grandma’s Feather Bed” to “Take Me Home, Country Roads” to “Follow Me” I adore just about everything he recorded.

I also credit Shelley for my love of all things Scottish, thanks to the music of the Bay City Rollers. Who doesn’t belt out “Saturday Night” on occasion?

Thanks to her influence, by age 7, I was singing Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman.” This did not amuse our mother.

For reasons still unclear to me, my sister also enjoyed Marty Robbins. For her 18th birthday, I used my allowance to buy her his “Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs” album, which had been released the year she was born.

That’s why I know all the lyrics to “El Paso.”

Out in the West Texas town of El Paso

I fell in love with a Mexican girl

Nighttime would find me in Rosa’s Cantina

Music would play and Feleena would whirl

Despite her affection for Robbins’ ballads, I can’t fault her for the first 45 record I purchased at age 10. It was “Convoy” by C.W. McCall.

Was the dark of the moon on the sixth of June

In a Kenworth pullin’ logs

Cab-over Pete with a reefer on

And a Jimmy haulin’ hogs

Don’t worry, a few years later my bedroom was plastered with Andy Gibb and Leif Garret posters, so I did achieve a certain amount of musical coolness.

I’m thankful for my siblings’ influence, even Jon’s.

All four of my sons had kazoos and I’m taking some to my grandkids on our next visit.

I’m sure their parents will be delighted by Nana’s musical influence.

Cindy Hval can be reached at dchval@juno.com. Hval is the author of “War Bonds: Love Stories from the Greatest Generation” (Casemate Publishers, 2015) available at Auntie’s Bookstore and bookstores nationwide.