It is easy for me to imagine life without harmonicas, but for my parents' generation, harmonicas were as common as rain. They were small and easy to fit in a shirt pocket or kit bag, and, whenever an idle moment presented itself, out came the harmonica to render a slightly reedy version of a well-known song: songs like "Red River Valley," "You Are My Sunshine," or "Tennessee Waltz." They were not far from the lips of anyone who played a harmonica.