Oldie #1: Oxygen
I’m in the office standing between two desks. Something makes me think of a song. I start to sing it in my lame, cracking voice, which for this song is just fine, because it always was a lame song.
“Huh, huh, huh?” I ask Kyle.
There’s no reaction. Not a surprise — he’s too young.
I look over at Carl. Certainly he knows it. But there’s no reaction there, either.
I pull up my phone, search for Love Is Like Oxygen, and play it.
“You remember that, don’t you?” I ask Carl.
An uncertain look on his face. A bit of a frown. And a slight shake of his head.
Then I made the mistake.
“When were you born, Carl?”
Ok. I see why he didn’t know the song.
Oldie #2: Rock On
Alex texts us to tell us they are going to landscape the front yard.
“We’re rocking the yard,” he says. “Do you want us to do it on your side of the driveway, too?”
I give it some thought. I think about that thin strip of grass. About the mowing.
“Rock on!” I say, with David Essex running thru my head.
“Ok, rock we shall,” Alex says.
“I like rocks,” responds the fair and industrious Trudy.
I try again responding, “Jump up and down in my blue suede shoes,” without doubt the best ditty in the Essex song.
And then I made the mistake.
I search for the lyrics online so I can send the link. And I find them… on oldielyrics.com.