Every Sunday morning for many decades now, the voices of Camp Nebagamon’s choir have rung out from next to the Chuck Hirsch Shrine. Andrew Gordon directed the choir in the 1990s… and it directly led to the creation of a new camp song. The Keylog asked Andrew for some memories about the singers and the song:
The Camp Choir has always been paired with Sunday Service, and it functions as a source of entertainment to complement the more subdued Camp traditions on Sunday morning. With an “exclusive” for performing before and after Sunday Service, there’s opportunity for those who participate, along with a unique challenge to learn the selected songs in a short period of time. Nebaga-Sound, as it would be called in the 1990s, required some inspiration and energy.
For many, joining a “choir” would not intuitively seem fun. Competing with other Camp activities for participants, Nebaga-Sound would need to attract campers and counselors who were being pulled in many directions. A camper could go to a goggle for MOCA, sign up for Target shooting… or go to Camp Choir practice. And don’t forget the fact that half the group might be in Pictured Rocks or the Porcupine Mountains at any given time! Suffice to say that having everyone at rehearsal was always difficult
Still, campers who contributed to Nebaga-Sound would provide a steady stream of young singers. Others would participate to support the Sunday service speaker. And some just liked music. We’d meet in the Rec Hall or Big House living room with transcribed lyrics (by hand). Occasionally, we had sheet music, which helped the guitar or piano player. Usually, we just had a cassette (yes, it was those days). We would play, pause, rewind and replay the tricky parts to help the melody sink in. Eventually, everyone would usually catch on, just enough!
By Saturday afternoons and into Sunday morning, the time left for practice would be dwindling, and practice would take on greater priority. With 15-20 kids (and some counselors) singing, a guitar player and/or a piano player, and the same songs played over and over, those working in the Big House office must have gotten a few tunes stuck in their heads! Sometimes, Sunday was a first and final rehearsal all at once, with the added benefit for some of missing cabin clean up! At this point, everything would finally come together.
The musical tastes of the Sunday Service speaker would typically determine what we performed. While we would sometimes sing current hits that many knew well, we were often handed songs near and dear to the speaker that almost no one knew. The range of music included songs like “On the Road Again“ by Willie Nelson and “Everybody Hurts” by REM. Some songs have faded from memory, but I have an enduring memory: the satisfaction of working together with campers and counselors from all over the country (and even all over the world!) to pull off a performance in a short period of time.
In the mid-1990s, the first end-of-camp retrospective slide show came to life, and if I am not mistaken it was E.J. Hahn who had the idea of having Nebaga-Sound sing a new camp song to accompany the visual. I was asked to “write” it. Eventually, I settled on adapting Warren Nelson’s “Illustrated End Song,” which was aptly named. With new lyrics and a few twists, Camp Nebagamon had a new song — “54849” — which is now a staple after every GTC and has become a sort of anthem celebrating what we love about Camp. In more recent years I have served as the camp doctor for a week each summer, and it’s always gratifying to see the pride and passion that this song, originally produced for Nebaga-Sound, brings to campers and counselors.
