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he's laughing at you, not with you

It's finallly spring like here. Sixty degrees, sunny, no wind. Perfect day. So, last night I started going through our music collection - CDs, tapes, vinly and whatnot, trying to pack some of it up for the move. I came across a stack of CD-R's. Yes! All those mix CDs I made. About 50 of them. Now, none of them are labeled so I figure I'll get a nice surprise when I pop one into the car stereo or when I get to work. I hit gold with first one. My long lost CD of Music That Reminds Me of That One Time (no, you don't have to know what that one time is about). I made it when we first got the CD burner, when Napster was at its peak. I know it by heart, still. So I skip to song six. Tyler, by the Toadies. One of the greatest songs ever recorded. And one of the best songs to sing at the top of your lungs, all passionate and sinister-like, when you are alone. Well, I was alone. So I turned it up and sang my heart out. All the yeas and ohs and mmhmms, all the creepy lyrics and especially that one part where he says "she pulled the covers tighter" which just gives me chills. Apparently, it doesn't give anyone chills when I sing it. Or maybe the wrong kind of chills. Remember how I just said up there that it's a spring-like day? So, I'm driving with the windows open. But I'm not used to having the windows open, so I forget as I get lost in all the deranged emotion of the song and I'm banging my fists on the steering wheel and nodding my head and putting a little oomph into the "I will be with her tonight" chorus and it's all interrupted by a man's deep voice shouting, "You go, girl!" Holy embarrassment, Batman. I nearly choked on my own saliva. The shouting man was waiting for a bus on the corner where I was stopped for a red light. I gave him a weak smile and he gave me a thumbs up, but he was laughing; a kind of snickering, giggling laugh, signaling the depressing fact that I will be the joke of the day wherever laughing man works, and I will be the joke of the night when he goes home to his family and if and when he ever hears Tyler on the radio (which is unlikely, I'm happy to say), he will begin that giggle fit all over again and remember the girl in the Explorer who made the American Idol rejects sound like Annie Lenox. I'll be either shutting the windows or listening to talk radio on the way home.

Comments

Honey, fuck him if he can't take a joke.

Don't be embarrassed. He's the asshole, for making you feel bad.

Think back, imagine his face, then hold out your thumb and forefinger over his face and say, "I'm crushing your head."

Meryl, honey: You've never heard me sing. I don't fault the guy for laughing at all. In fact, he earned the laugh by being forced to listen to me.

Next time you're in NY, all you have to do is ply me with a few shots of tequila and I'll sing for you. Then you'll know.

I used to sing in public.

Until my friends all signed that petition, that is.

I'm learning Spanish, and every morning I walk to the Metro listening to unas lecciones on a PocketPC with headphones. The lessons have questions you have to answer, phrases to repeat, etc., and I'll bet ya there's a few people who think of Pass the Gas as "that guy who walks down the street talking to himself."

I figure, as Meryl sez above: fuck 'em.

I have a drunken you singing on video from New Year's Eve. Remember that? You were dancing too. I have the power. Be very afraid...

Oh shit. I forgot all about that. It was a disco song, wasn't it?

I love you, Lisa. You're my favorite sister.

worse... DOO WOP!

That's ok, Lee. I have video of you wearing coconut boobs and singing Sister Christian.

What is it with the toadies. Are they the official band of the serial killer or what?

I was always creeped out by Possum Kingdom:

http://www.letssingit.com/?http://www.letssingit.com/toadies-tyler-2zlfhl8.html

Perhaps because I lived in DFW at the time.

Bah! You've heard me sing. You can't be THAT bad. And so what if you are? Ya can't be good looking AND talented. It would leave the universe unbalanced. Kinda like me...

HA! I did the same thing today with Tantric- "Hey Now" with the deep voice singing stuff, windows down. Noticed I was being watched, someone looking at me out of the corner of their eyes, mortified. It must be the weather.

You should hear me singing "Napolean" by Ani DiFranco.

I am always amused when I see stuff like that. Like looking through the rear window of someone in front of you at a red light rocking out...watching their head bang while they're belting. It makes me happy. Someone's having fun. I'm sure dude thought the same about you.

Eh, screw him. He was probably just smiling because it's nice to see someone enjoying themselves singing, and it's something you don't see enough of these days, people who aren't professionals doing it because they just love it.

Did it ever occur to you that he was applauding your enthusiasm?

BTW, I have been informed by people who know music that I have an excellent singing voice. So if we have a duet together I can make you sound good.

(Harmonizing you know)

Seriously, never be ashamed to enjoy a good tune.

oh man, do i ever love singing to the Toadies. I have a Total Toadies! Cd usually in my truck (one of three!). I drive around and holler and yell it and sing along and go "heeeyaaaeah!" right along with Todd, and everyone near me stares. I don't care. I'm practicing, i tell myself :P "Dead Boy Boogie" tends to get a lot of stares.

But... it's sure made it easier to get on stage and sing.

Oh and Bryan- you think Possum Kingdom is creepy? It's probably the least creepy of anything they ever did. cackle

LOL! I had a similar moment last summer...I was working in the garden...the cats lounging around in the pile of pulled weeds as cats are wont to do. I listen to classic radio outside cuz it's less troublesome to neighbors and a Strauss waltz came on. I swooped up a cat and tripped the light fantastic with him in my very best Yul Brenner imitation. So there I was whirling around, dancing with a cat when I looked up and the next door neighbor was smiling broadly from an upstairs window. I felt like an absolute moroon.

Now whenever I meet him walking dogs he grins and chuckles.