Description of the Hammargren “Songs of Nevada”

Songs of Nevada is a collection of songs written in parody. A parody is a composition tending to excite laughter. Many things said in song soften the jest.

“Gas Goes Higher” is based on a June and Johnny Cash song “The Ring of Fire”. He revised this parody from a friend who revised it from a friend who revised it from another friend. Share the same feelings of gas guzzling cars with high priced fuel. It burns the guy up when gas goes higher.

“Nevada Sunshine” is based on the famous song “You Are my Sunshine” written by a candidate for Governor in Louisiana. Jimmy Davis wrote this song and sang it all over the state of Louisiana. He won the election. Nevada Sunshine – tells the advantage of Nevada’s sunshine turning it into an energy song. The song tells the many sources of energy they have in Nevada such as wind power from winds whooshing across the desert and geothermal power. In Nevada, sunshine is unparalleled and could reduce their dependence on other energy sources such as fossil fuels.

“Carson City Jail” is an adaptation of the Kingston Trio song of the ‘50’s called Tijuana Jail where a group of partiers could not get out of a jail in Mexico as they could not afford the bail. This adaptation includes the statement: Carson City Mayor Tex telling the boys the $500 bail was fare for a Tijuana bus. No immigration exploitation was intended, but in the hyper-tense society someone can always take offense at a song written only for fun.

“Nye County” song is sung to the tune of “Don’t Fence Me In” written by Cole Porter which tells the story of the sagebrush revolution of states rights against federal dictates against federal bureaucracy. Nye County Commissioner, Dick Carver, is the only Nevada man ever to make the cover of Time Magazine when he tried to open federal roads closed by the BLM, Bureau of Land Management. This confrontation led to many years of negotiations of county, state and federal rights of government over land. He actually drove his Caterpillar to move piles of gravel placed in the road as federal agents watched. He sang the song for Dick many times and confiscated the hat off his head at one of the backyard parties. Dick unfortunately died of a brain tumor. He sang this song in tribute to him at his funeral at Round Mountain at the request of his wife.

“Reno Trench” is a parody of the Kingston Trio song, “The M.T.A., Massachusetts Transit Authority”. A man is trapped on a train underneath the streets of Boston because he cannot pay an extra nickel for the fare. The “Reno Trench” was planned for 75 years and finally implemented. How fun, to get lost in the trench, a time warp of political parody, “He must ride forever ‘neath the streets of Reno he’s the man who never returned.

“Winnemucca” is the story of Sarah Winnemucca, her father and grandfather and is a true tale of western exploitation of the Indians. In this case a positive ending happened because of the courage of Sarah Winnemucca. The cousin Skip lives in Winnemucca, and his wife, Sandy Hammargren typed this composition the night he wrote this in Winnemucca. Winnemucca is based on an old western song called KawLiga about a Wooden Indian with longings for a female carved Wooden Indian.

“Ballad of Lonnie and Lincoln” is an adaptation of the old folk song “Oh My Darling, Clementine”. This melody was suggested by the wife, Sandy Hammargren, and they composed the lyrics while returning from an event in Laughlin. It refers to the fact that Governor Bob Miller was on a vacation in the Caribbean when he attempted to appoint a County Commissioner for Lincoln County who could not have meetings until another commissioner was appointed. The politics behind this were extremely interesting in that the County was attempting to raise money by parking trains full of radioactive wastes for an indeterminate period of time in Lincoln County. This ended up with the Legislature censoring Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa, Nevada’s first in history. Because he attempted this, he were not looked upon as a team player. This event reminded people of when Senator Paul Laxalt was Lt. Governor at the time Governor Grant Sawyer left the state for a very short period of time. Grant had to return back to change a highway ruling made in his absence by Lt. Gov. Laxalt. These events tend to be written up in history when a Lt. Governor takes temporary action in a Governor’s absence.

“Night Time in Nevada” is a signature song. It is not a parody. It was written by three mid-westerners in 1931 that had never been to Nevada. It is memorable because the mother who was not a singer but loved to sing taught that this song when he were a little kid. It is of cowboys, lullabies of dreaming of the old days on the prairie and you. This is a song everybody hope that someday can become Nevada’s lullaby.