We’re celebrating Father’s Day with our members sharing the song that reminds them of their dad. Bonus: listen to the GovLove podcast episode – Podcast: Dad Talk – Balancing Budgets and Diapers.
Submissions
Sam Taylor
Advice: Recognize your talents and embrace them.
Song: “All The Young Dudes” – Mott the Hoople
Nyssa Rivera, City of Beaverton, Oregon, Management Analyst
Advice: Good luck is a result of good planning.
Song: Any song on Linda Ronstadt’s Canciones De Mi Padre album.
Denise Katula, Leadership Somerset, Program Director
Advice: “You can’t always do the fun stuff.” Translation: if you’re involved with an org, be someone who really gets involved.
Song: Rossini’s William Tell Overture or the Cuban folk song Guantanamera.
Sarah Rogers, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Certified Local Government Coordinator
Advice: Don’t just punch a clock, stay until your work is done.
Song: People Get Old – Lori McKenna
Nick Smith, City of Gaithersburg, MD, Digital Content Specialist
Advice: Don’t take it with you if you’re not willing to lose it.
Song: “The Mud Shark” by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention
Cristen Nussman Wood, City of Pearland, TX, Human Resources Director
Advice: Never stop asking questions and learning and teaching.
Song: Summer Breeze by Seals and Croft
Liz Vogel, Charter Township of Clinton, MI, Deputy Supervisor
Advice: Always get to work an hour early
Song: My song is Chicago – Saturday in the park. My parents won the vinyl album from a radio station concert shortly after they married in 1973.
Lexi Hallum
Advice: We’re all going to die anyway so be nice.
Song: Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffet. He was a self-proclaimed pirate and we played this song at his memorial service.
Honoré Depew, City of Fort Collins, CO, Environmental Planner
Advice: “If this isn’t nice, what is?”
Song: Billy Bragg, Milkman of Human Kindness
Jay Anderson, City of Colorado Springs, CO, Citizen Engagement & Open Data Administrator
Advice:
“As they grow and play soccer, act in plays, whatever— you make every one of those that you possibly can. The days are long, but the years are so short.”
“Take half the blame and half the credit. They are their own people, after all.”
Song: Paul Simon, Late in the Evening
Zach Ratkai, City of Richland, WA, Economic Development Manager
Advice: My dad was my first boss and I would work for his landscaping company as a grunt all summer growing up. He didn’t give advice, so much as led by example to keep working hard, but get the job done well.
Song: Take Another Road, by Jimmy Buffett
Kirsten Wyatt, ELGL Executive Director
Advice: “Don’t half ass it.” Or more eloquently – a job worth doing is a job well done. Always, always useful.
Song: “Blame It on the Rain.” My grandma gave me her 10 year old pickup when I turned 16. My dad was still driving it when I was 36. It had a shitty tapedeck and we didn’t have any tapes anymore, so when I’d drive the truck the only tape – blaring in the deck – was Milli Vanilli. “Blame It on the Rain” is actually really catchy. But also my subconscious reminder of how cost effective my dad is.
Sarah Moss, Denver, CO Fire Department, Strategic Planning & Governmental Affairs
Advice: Dad’s advice before I went off to college in a big city far, far away: “You’ll learn as much from friends in the dorm lounge at night as you will from your professors in class.” That was his way of telling me not to study too hard!
Song: When I was young, on Independence Day morning, my dad would blast “Stars and Stripes Forever” and the “1812 Overture” and parade around the house banging two pot lids together like he had missed his calling as a cymbals player in a marching band. My teenage self did not appreciate this, but now I think it is hilarious, and each July 4th I call him and hold the phone up to a speaker for a morning dose of musical patriotism.
Song Submissions from 2017
Ain’t No Sunshine by Bill Withers. Submitted by Kate Westaby, Wisconsin Partnership Program.
Story Behind the Song: My dad loved Motown music, Bill Withers, The Temptations, The Commodores etc. Every time that Ain’t No Sunshine came on, he always reminded every one that Bill Withers says “I know” 27 times, after he sang the song of course. My dad didn’t need music to be playing. He would sing randomly in public.
Memphis or Maybelline by Chuck Berry. Submitted by Matt Yager, City of Plano, TX
Story Behind the Song: I have a lot of memories of my father driving me here, there and everywhere. There was a time where I started ragging on his musical selection, which I later discovered was actually better than my own. One of the first things I remember purchasing for him for father’s day that he actually enjoyed was a Chuck Berry greatest hits cassette. And hey, Maybelline is probably Churck Berry’s best driving song.
Fanfare For The Common Man by Aaron Copeland. Submitted by David Donaldson, City of Beaverton, OR
Story Behind the Song: My father listened only to classical music and he thought Copeland was the greatest American composer. Along with Appalachian Spring this was his favorite. He would turn it up and it would take you to another place
El Paso by Marty Robbins. Submitted by Sarah Medary, City of Eugene, OR
Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter by Herman’s Hermit. Submitted by Shelby Teufel, City of Pleasant Hill, MO
Anything Songs by Herb Albert & the Tijuana Brass. Submitted by Carol Krager, City of Tigard, OR
Summer Breeze by Seals & Croft. Submitted by Cristen Nussman Wood, City of Pearland, TX
Centerfield by John Fogerty. Submitted by Kirsten Wyatt, ELGL Executive Director
Story Behind the Song: My tendency to listen to albums on repeat until the entire family is totally over them comes from my dad. Growing up, we’d listen to the same records – then tapes – for months until every song was memorized by everyone. One such album, “Centerfield,” was on repeat for months in our car. For a long time, my sister and I thought the lyrics, “put me in coach,” referenced Cinderella’s magical coach for the ball and my dad had to explain that it was actually about baseball. In addition to John Fogerty, we wore out the Bruce Springsteen box set, Paul Simon’s “Graceland,” and strangely (and sadly) the Milli Vanilli tape.
Old Man by Neil Young. Submitted by Randy Ealy, City of Beaverton, OR
Big Bear (from Super Troopers) by Steak. Submitted by T.L Cox, Springsted Incorporated
You Got It by Roy Orbison. Submitted by Kent Wyatt, ELGL Co-Founder
There You’ll Be by Faith Hill. Submitted by Jamie Ludovic, Washington County, WI
Sharp-Dressed Man by ZZ Top. Submitted by Center for Priority Based Budgeting
Meanwhile, check out these ELGL articles that touch on the father-son bond.
- Life as a City Manager’s Child with David Rowlands, City of Fillmore (CA)
- The Plight of the Partner
- Life as a City Manager’s Child with Pat Hare, City of Adair Village
- Life as a City Manager’s Child with Sean Pederson, City of Canton, SD
- Life as a City Manager’s Child with Alex McIntyre
- Life as a City Manager’s Child with Jeanna Troha
- Life as a City Manager’s Child with Jackie Schwerm
- Life as a City Manager’s Child with David Donaldson
- The Assistant: Brooks Bennett, Round Rock, TX
- Life as a City Manager’s Child with Mary Van Milligan
- Life as a City Manager’s Child with Kent Wyatt
- Guidepost #19 – Edward Wyatt, Cities of Fairfax, Va and Wilson, NC