“I dance better than I sing,” Mayor Keith Gaskin warned a crowd of about 25 well-wishers — and one poor guy who just wanted to eat lunch — Thursday afternoon at Zachary’s restaurant. He, along with local musician Hoot Wilder, then launched into a country-tinged song honoring one of Columbus’ most storied residents: Edwina “Mother Goose” Williams.
Before it was all sung and done, the honoree ad-libbed a song of her own and got the key to the city.
The whole series of unlikely events can be traced back to Glenn Lautzenhiser.
Lautzenhiser, a longtime (non-musical) collaborator with Mother Goose, explained he wanted to honor her for the years that they spent going to elementary schools, day care centers and Head Starts around the community to encourage children to read through the nonprofit My Book.
“A few months ago I did something that I had never done before and may never do again,” he said. “I wrote a song about Mother Goose. I entitled it, ‘Ode to Mother G.’”
The song, 34 lines over five verses, extols Williams as unique “from Timbuktu and on to Kalamazoo” and “esteemed from Steens to New Orleans.”
It manages to name drop Sherlock Holmes’ nemesis Irene Adler, work in a phrase in Latin and praise Williams’ skill as a raconteur.
Once Lautzenhiser wrote the lyrics, he passed them on to Wilder, who spent “a couple of hours” writing the tune.
“When he sent me the words, I said, ‘Oh, my God,’” Wilder said. “But, after wrestling with it I came up with a simple tune that works well. The mayor and I have been working mighty hard, and it’s such an honor for us to debut a rising country music duo with a tribute to (Mother Goose.)”
Williams has spent about four decades playing the role of Mother Goose. Costumed in an ankle-length dress, apron and flower-bedecked straw hat, Williams is likely the most easily recognized personality in Lowndes County. Williams, in her guise as Mother Goose, hosts Story Time twice every Thursday at the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library in addition to her volunteering at local schools.
Lautzenhiser said Williams requested the mayor sing the song to her, and Gaskin, for his part, said he couldn’t turn her down.
Wilder and Gaskin — christened by Gaskin as “Hootie and the Mayor” — let ‘er rip while Williams looked on, with the crowd joining in on the chorus: “They don’t make them like this woman anymore, anymore; they don’t make them like this woman anymore.”
Williams, compared to a queen in the song, was overjoyed.
“Thank you for this presentation, and all you precious subjects of Possum Town, thank you. That was a wonderful song,” Williams said.
She then responded with a song of her own, making up the words as she went.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you for making this day special,” she sang.
The event ended with Gaskin presenting Williams the key to the city.
“I’m going to keep it in my office so I can see it every day,” Williams said.
With that, the crowd dispersed. And, presumably, that one guy finished his lunch.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
