James compared his mother's singing to a car
trying to start, a Maytag washer, and the shrill voice of Curly from the Three
Stooges.
Ruth Jordan's singing was so bad and off-key that it actually roused
the preacher from his rest when she'd hit a particularly bad note. She sang, though, because she
loved God and appreciated church. She wanted to participate even though it wasn't her
skill.writes:
She went to church each and every Sunday,
the only white person in sight, butchering the lovely hymns with a singing voice that sounded
like a cross between a cold engine trying to crank on an October morning and a whining Maytag
washer.[. . .] Up, up, and away she went, her shrill voice climbing higher
and higher, reminding us of Curly of the Three Stooges.
Reverend Owens would jolt at one of the particularly bad notes from Ruth, realize it
was her, and then go back to resting and listening. She was well known for her lack of vocal
ability. McBride says that during churchusually during one of her favorite songswas the only
time he saw his mother cry.
She told him she cried because God makes her
happy. But he felt her tears came from something else that she wasn't willing to share with
him.
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