Good morning, everyone. I had two song-related thoughts in a short timeframe, so I’m combining them and posting a blog entry while I actually have a few minutes.
First, I’m proud to say that my alarm has actually been going off much more recently. I used to wake up before my alarm clock about 90% of the time, but it’s happening maybe less than half the time now. That allows for more opportunities like the one that happened a week or two ago:
The time hit 4:30am, and my clock radio dutifully turned on. It was right at the beginning of “December, 1963 (Oh What a Night)” by The Four Seasons. I heard the opening words, which many of you know already: “Oh what a night/late December back in ’63.” And like no normal person, half-asleep Peter thought, “Who says ‘late December’ anyway?” Stay with me here. What would you define as “late December” vs. “mid”? Maybe starting around the 20th? So that would give that time period 11 days. Within those 11, 3 of them (or 27%) already have other names: Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. So if it were one of those days, it would be called out by name. I’d also argue that if it were the 29th or 30th (or really anything after Christmas), the prevailing thought during that time is more about it being the “end of the year” vs. “late December.” So that really leaves the 20-23, which is also part of another big category: “The holiday season.” I just don’t think people refer to something as happening in “late December,” or at least 4:30am Peter doesn’t. My favorite brother and father both have birthdays in that timeframe, so maybe they’ll disagree and tell me they regularly refer to their birthdays as being in “late December,” but I feel/felt very strongly about it. Yes, I know it’s a song and they wanted the words to fit a certain meter and whatever, but I’m sure they could’ve made something else work. After all, this is the group that turned the words “Sherry Baby” into 10 syllables. I’m just saying.
My second thought is a lot shorter: I think “What’s New Pussycat” by Tom Jones is my least favorite song of all time. It’s definitely up there with “No More I Love Yous” by Annie Lennox.
That’s it, enjoy the rest of your late March (which is totally a thing).