He probably had lived in northern Georgia. He might have
been a native Georgian, or spent much of his life there. But, we know not much
more than that, or do we? Emory S. Peck told us something pretty important
about himself when he composed “Sing and Be Happy” in 1940, if you can peer
inside the words he wrote, think about what message he had, and ponder a few
other details of his surroundings. He was a 47-year old believer, and knew of a
recipe for relief from a difficult time, judging by what he says in the three
verses he jotted for us to examine. Maybe he himself stayed in the shadows so
that his message might attract more light.
Maybe that’s what we ought to do, too.
He’s anonymous, but Emory S. Peck does have a biography that
someone knows, and a must have said some things in “Sing and Be Happy” that
resonated with others. His grave is in a cemetery called Alta Vista, outside of
Gainesville, Georgia. It’s a small town,
or technically a small city (population 33,000-plus), the seat of Hall County,
and nicknamed the “poultry capital of the world”. There’s several notable
people who are from Gainesville, but Peck isn’t listed among them. Maybe it’s a
mirror of his less-than prolific musical output, which one source indicates was
just three songs. Or, perhaps Emory hailed from somewhere else in Georgia, and
then made his home in Gainesville at some later point. Or, maybe he was just a
happily-ordinary Christian, with this upbeat tune in his toolkit, which he
could haul out to dispense advice to others having a bad day. He must have
crossed paths with others, or felt this way himself – depressed and burdened
(verse 1); tired, grief- or pain-stricken, feeling that life was unfair (verse
2); or feeling forgotten (verse 3). Emory’s solution was consistent. Trust that
there’s a brighter end of the road, a goal that will not vanish, one about which
we can sing. Focus on that, Peck advises.
This fellow Emory Peck was a 40-something, living in a world
with lots of anxieties in 1940. Most historians will quickly surmise that maybe
Peck, as perhaps many other Americans experienced in that era, were worried that
war (World War II) was on the horizon. Did Emory have sons he thought might be
compelled to wear a uniform and a helmet in the near future? His age suggests
he had been a young man in his 20s—draft-age--during the first world war. Was
Peck a Roosevelt democrat, enamored with FDR’s theme song (“Happy Days Are Here
Again”), who decided that he could echo that theme in his Christian walk? Maybe
he’d been outta work in the decade of the 1930s, and thought his president’s
jocular suggestion was a good one that was beginning to bear fruit as the new
decade dawned. It doesn’t have to be a year or a even just a day in the midst
of an economic storm, or a looming cloud of global conflict on the horizon to
dim one’s outlook. But, hearing these words from a guy who must have had many
pressing issues to think about during a time I can only imagine makes me think
again about how to respond. None of these concerns were invisible to Emory. He
just knew how to see thorough them.
May 2020 UPDATE: Some of Emory’s descendants have
commented on the story, and have provided a few more details of his life. (See
the comments posted below.) They relate that he was the composer for other
pieces that were published after World War I; apparently, he did indeed serve
in the Great War, as a band director and medic. (How must that experience have colored
his outlook on life? …it was an especially horrific war, as many historians
have noted.) He lived in the Gainesville area, and taught music at Brenau
University. He sounds like a gentle soul, who enjoyed being with a great-nephew
to listen to Atlanta Braves baseball on the radio, perhaps as they enjoyed fruit
from his orchard. Thanks for sharing, Terry Cash and Sandi Simpson!
http://www.therestorationmovement.com/_states/georgia/peck.htm
(This site indicates he is buried in north Georgia. So, was he a Georgia
native, or lived a significant portion of his life there?)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gainesville,_Georgia
(may be composer’s hometown)
http://www.hymnary.org/person/Peck_ES1
(site shows three songs attributed to composer)
A little bit more information is here: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42743412
