Posts Tagged ‘lyrics’

Recently my brother and I were swapping stories about our childhood peccadilloes and the punishments that usually followed. One thing was certain: When Mom and Daddy caught us in our misadventures and promised to tend to us later, they kept their word. We not only learned that actions have consequences, we learned our parents meant what they said.

Most people seem to take a more ambiguous approach to life than our parents. They’ve discovered the easiest way to avoid conflict is to avoid making firm commitments or saying anything meaningful. Instead they waffle and warble, acting out the advice Rolling Stones’ front man Mick Jagger once said he picked up from singer Fats Domino: Never sing the lyrics very clearly.

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Ever get caught up in a situation so off-the-wall nuts that your mind discombobulates, making you incapable of uttering coherent sounds? When that happened to me recently, the first person I saw was my friend, Diane. Fortunately, with friends who understand you that well, words aren’t necessary. “I know,” she said, grabbing me for a quick hug, “Now go, go.”

That registered. Seconds later I was in the parking lot, my hands shaking so that I couldn’t find my clump of keys in a purse pocket no more than four inches wide and deep. Oblivious to the lightly falling rain, I dropped my unopened umbrella and everything else on the wet grass, clawed out my keys, then grabbed my soggy belongings and slung them across the driver’s seat at the passenger door. Finally I was off.

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“Gotta get-get,” my nephew would chime as we all played the card game Uno. “Gotta get-get,” I’d reply. We’d keep this up for a bit before shifting to our own butchered version of the remaining lyrics to “Boom Boom Pow”: “I like that boom boom pow. Them chickens jackin’ my style. They try to copy my swagger … I’m so three thousand and eight. You so two thousand and late … I be rockin’ them beats.” Then with our best bass voices we’d turn to each other and croak: “Let the beat rock!”

 We’d be quiet for a while before one of us would start again with “Gotta get-get.” Finally, my brother grumbled, “I’d be happy if I never heard that song again.”

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