They were on 1-95 somewhere, munching on Ramen Noodles (dry) and cheese sticks, when it came on. Even the DJ was making fun of poor Frank.
A disco version of some hit of his. He was trying to keep up (keep upright), while disco lights swirled around him. You could picture him in the center of the dance floor, looking embarrassed. The agent/adviser would be asking him to pose like Vinnie Barbarino in a minute.
"This is every singer's nightmare!"
"It's not so bad. You can hear the bones of the song," she had loved that phrase when she heard it and tried to work it into as many conversations as she could when trying to be Smart about music.
"Please. When you see me, up on a stage, trying to update my music like that. Just shoot me."
She refused to say the oath out loud and just nodded. She had no idea how to tell him that that's exactly who he was. A 45ish over-the-hill former semi-rock star, the least popular member of a 4 person band, the band she still had to explain to people. And everyone still mistook him for Ringo. Popular for 2 years, and then HE was the guy who left first. Little did he know that was as good as it would get.
And the act, last night, and then this afternoon, at bars, at rodeos and farm festivals, when she was only one of 5 people in the audience. He was on stage, trying SO HARD, for jokes, for laughs, for attention. She loved him in all his efforts, still smiled at every bad joke. Tried to warm up the audience by making friends with them. Tried to act as if she wasn't his intern from a different job. Tried to act like an audience member.
But last night, he was Sinatra doing disco.
"The song does have great bones. I should dig out his earlier recordings of it, "
But just as the DJ had been making fun of him before, he put on the recording from the 60's, a decade earlier.
"That's a guy who has just had a one night stand with a girl who he wants to marry in the morning. He's trying to play it off, and he knows that she's much too free, or something like that. But he wants her. Wants the whole she-bang."
And then, his first recording, solemn, lots of strings. Slowly, the strings taking to flight. He'd rather say no, because you are driving him crazy. He'd rather die a lonely old man than be just one of your followers. And it's breaking his heart, because this is the ultimatum, he's laid his heart at your feet. But he can walk offstage proud. That's an actor!!"
At this monologue, she knew that he was being won over. She loved the corny songs. The "Standards" the Broadway show tunes. And he did too, sometimes. individually, not as a whole. She imagined it was like segregation. You professed to hate a whole race, except for a few exceptions-the people you knew. And then, before you knew it, all your friends were black and you were happy. The End.
A disco version of some hit of his. He was trying to keep up (keep upright), while disco lights swirled around him. You could picture him in the center of the dance floor, looking embarrassed. The agent/adviser would be asking him to pose like Vinnie Barbarino in a minute.
"This is every singer's nightmare!"
"It's not so bad. You can hear the bones of the song," she had loved that phrase when she heard it and tried to work it into as many conversations as she could when trying to be Smart about music.
"Please. When you see me, up on a stage, trying to update my music like that. Just shoot me."
She refused to say the oath out loud and just nodded. She had no idea how to tell him that that's exactly who he was. A 45ish over-the-hill former semi-rock star, the least popular member of a 4 person band, the band she still had to explain to people. And everyone still mistook him for Ringo. Popular for 2 years, and then HE was the guy who left first. Little did he know that was as good as it would get.
And the act, last night, and then this afternoon, at bars, at rodeos and farm festivals, when she was only one of 5 people in the audience. He was on stage, trying SO HARD, for jokes, for laughs, for attention. She loved him in all his efforts, still smiled at every bad joke. Tried to warm up the audience by making friends with them. Tried to act as if she wasn't his intern from a different job. Tried to act like an audience member.
But last night, he was Sinatra doing disco.
"The song does have great bones. I should dig out his earlier recordings of it, "
But just as the DJ had been making fun of him before, he put on the recording from the 60's, a decade earlier.
"That's a guy who has just had a one night stand with a girl who he wants to marry in the morning. He's trying to play it off, and he knows that she's much too free, or something like that. But he wants her. Wants the whole she-bang."
And then, his first recording, solemn, lots of strings. Slowly, the strings taking to flight. He'd rather say no, because you are driving him crazy. He'd rather die a lonely old man than be just one of your followers. And it's breaking his heart, because this is the ultimatum, he's laid his heart at your feet. But he can walk offstage proud. That's an actor!!"
At this monologue, she knew that he was being won over. She loved the corny songs. The "Standards" the Broadway show tunes. And he did too, sometimes. individually, not as a whole. She imagined it was like segregation. You professed to hate a whole race, except for a few exceptions-the people you knew. And then, before you knew it, all your friends were black and you were happy. The End.
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