Glorious Summer Day

By all means have Robert Mueller testify before congress, questioned by both Democrats and Republicans. It might force the mainstream media to finally cover the side of the story it has ignored for two years — a coup against the President of the United States.

That’s enough politics for today. Oh, wait — there was something on the local level. Political Man, aka Jeff, declared himself the victor in his run for the board of his co-op, claiming the vote was rigged against him by the Russians in his building colluding against him.

It’s funny how certain points refuse to come to the surface no matter how hard we try to conjure them. Today I was thinking of song lyrics I’ve misinterpreted through the years. Two I always recall are, from Dion’s The Wanderer, written by Ernie Maresca: “… my fist of iron…,” which I heard as “two fists divine,” and, from Johnny Rivers’ Secret Agent Man, written by P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri: “… you let the wrong word slip/While kissing persuasive lips…,” which I heard as “let the robbers slip...” Hoping to find others I’d misheard, I googled. Plenty came up, but none had fooled me, at least in those songs with which I was familiar. Here are some that are so amusing I suspect writer embellishment:
Madonna: “Like a virgin touched for the thirty-first time.”
Irene Cara: What A Feeling — “Take your pants off and make it happen.”
Creedence Clearwater Revival: Bad Moon Rising — “There’s a bathroom on the right.”
AC/DC: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap — “Dirty deeds and they’re done with sheep.”
Rolling Stones: Jumpin’ Jack Flash — “I was raised by two lesbian hags.”
David Bowie: Space Oddity — “Clown control to Mao Tse-Tung.”

Here are Dion and Rivers:

It was another solid day of business for the floating book shop. My thanks to the woman who bought three paperbacks while waiting for the bus, and to the gentleman leading a group of handicap folks, who purchased two books in Russian; and to Ira, who went home with a tiny hardcover on Jackie Kennedy and a large pictorial, Our Glorious Century. He asked if the title were accurate. I said: “Except for the Nazis and communists.” Although I overlooked the Japanese during WWII, he nodded agreement. The highlight of the session occurred when Marian showed with her beautiful daughter Scarlet, whose walking but not talking yet. She’s pregnant with her second, due in three months. Although I hadn’t seen her in two years, I’d spoken to her a couple of times on her dad’s cell phone. Her first pregnancy was very tough, sending her to the hospital three times. Beautiful person that she is, she said: “It was so worth it.” She wiped out a lot of my classics, buying George Orwell’s 1984, Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front, Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert B. Heinlein, a Raymond Carver short story collection, four collections of fairy tales in Russian, Tom Clancy’s Threat Vector for her husband, and Five Plays from the 1950’s, which includes A Hatful of Rain, written by none other than Frankie Five Angels himself — Michael V. Gazzo. Thank you, my dear.

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