A few years ago, my youngest sister, MaryBeth, and I had a running joke that went something like this:
Lindsey and MaryBeth get into the car together. Lindsey turns on the car radio. Song comes on that neither MaryBeth nor Lindsey really knows. Both Lindsey and MaryBeth sing nonsense words to the song, as if they know the song when really they don't. Lindsey and MaryBeth "sing" the song the entire way through, never acting as though anything strange is occurring.
We played this little game to many different genres and songs - pop, country, oldies, and any tune that would annoy the marbles out of our middle sister, Megan. Our very favorite song to "sing" was Bennie and the Jets. Oh, how we loved to make up words to Bennie and the Jets and sing them as if we knew for a fact that they were the correct words and that we were much better at singing them, in fact, than Sir Elton himself. It was our tradition, and it lasted for months and months on end with neither of us tiring of the hilarity of it all. (Megan did not find it funny in the least. Ever.)
Then, something happened. I was living and working about 80 miles away from the town I grew up in and where my family still resides, so my visits home were sporadic and short. One particular afternoon, I came home to pick up my baby sister for some sort of event (the details here are blurry, but the moment of clarity is about to come) and, as usual, turned on the radio as soon as we were seatbelted and moving. As per habit, I eventually switched the radio to the CD player, which was loaded with my favorite mix that of course included our old fallback, Bennie. I began the game, singing nonsense words like an idiot. A very happy idiot, indeed. Ah, but something was awry. The words pouring from my sister's mouth were completely unlike my own. They were, in fact, the correct words. With alarm, I whipped my head toward hers and watched a slow smile creep across her face. In the few weeks I had been gone, She had learned the words behind my back. An affair with some lyrics search engine, I suppose. I could feel my face fall and knew that all would be different from now on. She tried to tell me that she had "only learned the first and second verse." But the game was over, and she had won.
Blergh.
Since then, I sing nonsense in the car by myself. Never to Bennie and the Jets - that still hurts. But I often like to enjoy a Billy Joel tune or two, and have taken to jamming out to "We Didn't Start the Fire," not infrequently and completely terribly. I've always wondered what it might be like to actually know the words, but what fun would that be?
Today I finally took the challenge. I told myself that it's time to give up the nonsense and learn the real lyrics. So I opened iTunes, put on the song, and sang along while reading the lyrics online. I did this for about 45 minutes before I took a break. You know what? It's not so easy to learn all those words in one sitting. In fact, it's really difficult. I kind of wished I had been doing Hot Yoga instead, because it wouldn't be quite as hard and I'd be getting a work out. I sang and sang and read and read and an hour and a half later, I decided that this might not be a one-day kind of project. I'm not giving up, I'm just not going to force myself to learn these lyrics on one Thursday afternoon because if I did, I'd end up sick of the song and angry with Billy Joel, and I don't want either of those things to happen.
So, this Yes will have to be continued. It will become a 'when I need a little side project to get my mind of things' kind of project, and I will update accordingly. I will not give up. This is obviously of utmost importance.
To Be Continued...
Lindsey and MaryBeth get into the car together. Lindsey turns on the car radio. Song comes on that neither MaryBeth nor Lindsey really knows. Both Lindsey and MaryBeth sing nonsense words to the song, as if they know the song when really they don't. Lindsey and MaryBeth "sing" the song the entire way through, never acting as though anything strange is occurring.
We played this little game to many different genres and songs - pop, country, oldies, and any tune that would annoy the marbles out of our middle sister, Megan. Our very favorite song to "sing" was Bennie and the Jets. Oh, how we loved to make up words to Bennie and the Jets and sing them as if we knew for a fact that they were the correct words and that we were much better at singing them, in fact, than Sir Elton himself. It was our tradition, and it lasted for months and months on end with neither of us tiring of the hilarity of it all. (Megan did not find it funny in the least. Ever.)
Then, something happened. I was living and working about 80 miles away from the town I grew up in and where my family still resides, so my visits home were sporadic and short. One particular afternoon, I came home to pick up my baby sister for some sort of event (the details here are blurry, but the moment of clarity is about to come) and, as usual, turned on the radio as soon as we were seatbelted and moving. As per habit, I eventually switched the radio to the CD player, which was loaded with my favorite mix that of course included our old fallback, Bennie. I began the game, singing nonsense words like an idiot. A very happy idiot, indeed. Ah, but something was awry. The words pouring from my sister's mouth were completely unlike my own. They were, in fact, the correct words. With alarm, I whipped my head toward hers and watched a slow smile creep across her face. In the few weeks I had been gone, She had learned the words behind my back. An affair with some lyrics search engine, I suppose. I could feel my face fall and knew that all would be different from now on. She tried to tell me that she had "only learned the first and second verse." But the game was over, and she had won.
Blergh.
Since then, I sing nonsense in the car by myself. Never to Bennie and the Jets - that still hurts. But I often like to enjoy a Billy Joel tune or two, and have taken to jamming out to "We Didn't Start the Fire," not infrequently and completely terribly. I've always wondered what it might be like to actually know the words, but what fun would that be?
Today I finally took the challenge. I told myself that it's time to give up the nonsense and learn the real lyrics. So I opened iTunes, put on the song, and sang along while reading the lyrics online. I did this for about 45 minutes before I took a break. You know what? It's not so easy to learn all those words in one sitting. In fact, it's really difficult. I kind of wished I had been doing Hot Yoga instead, because it wouldn't be quite as hard and I'd be getting a work out. I sang and sang and read and read and an hour and a half later, I decided that this might not be a one-day kind of project. I'm not giving up, I'm just not going to force myself to learn these lyrics on one Thursday afternoon because if I did, I'd end up sick of the song and angry with Billy Joel, and I don't want either of those things to happen.
So, this Yes will have to be continued. It will become a 'when I need a little side project to get my mind of things' kind of project, and I will update accordingly. I will not give up. This is obviously of utmost importance.
To Be Continued...
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