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Ah, Copenhagen

No, we haven’t visited the capital of Denmark, charming as the coastal city is described, and famous for its Tivoli Gardens and Rosenborg Castle.

A melody recently popped into my ancient brain from the dim, distant past, triggered by who knows what. I couldn’t place the song but I recalled the tune, which conjured a vague sense of happiness, quite well.

I hummed it to Donna, whose encyclopedic knowledge of music is unsurpassed. She responded, “maybe if you sang it better I might recognize it.” Ouch. She suggested I try using Google.

“Dum, dum dum dum, dum dum DUM, dum dum dum,” I crooned. Google, perplexed and possibly annoyed, guessed Dun Dun, a 2020 song by South Korean girl group Everglow. Yeah no. Not even close.

I tried Donna again. Despite my pitch-impaired humming (I have pitch like Congress has cajones), Donna was able to puzzle together the melody. She employed Google and, being able to perfectly carry a tune (while I can carry a tune like I can hold a greased eel), the search engine immediately hit on “Wonderful Copenhagen,” a 1953 Danny Kaye classic song from the movie Hans Christian Andersen. That was it. I listened to the scratchy, low-fidelity song on YouTube and was transported to my early childhood.


Why did that tune, which I must have heard as a child but can’t remember hearing in some 65(!) years, suddenly and completely re-enter my mind? What about it made me smile – just the upbeat melody, or is there some particular event that I in the gauzy past attached to it?

I’ll probably never know. But when given an opportunity to sail back to a happy time for a bit, it’s a special gift.

Comments

  1. BlackwaterJuly 22, 2026 at 5:14 PM

    Copenhagen by Danny Kaye. Would love to hear if your brain convulses, releasing cranial vapors that remind you of that fateful time in childhood. While your wife enjoys/earned an "encyclopedic knowledge of music," my ex Michelle had a similarly encyclopedic knowledge of mythology from her studies of art. I didn't dare challenge, and humming wouldn't have opened the lock. Great stuff, Dave.

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