Klarinet Archive - Posting 000430.txt from 2002/07

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Music the makes you Wince
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2002 08:55:31 -0400

Kevin Fay wrote,
>Groaners. Music to punch puppies by.
[snip]
>What's your un-favorite?

Last Saturday at the D. C. Big Flea, a seller of vintage rock and pop music
controlled the music input to the P. A. system. With all due respect, that
guy had terrible taste. Among other things, he treated us to a sentimental
chart ballad from the 1960s, "Honey (I Miss You)," sung by Gary Puckett and
the Union Gap. It's a tear-jerker about a man grieving over his dead wife,
normally not a subject I'd make fun of--except this song is so mawkishly
saccharine, and sung with such a trembling, nanny-goat vibrato, that it's
nauseating instead of sad, IMHO. Top 40 stations used to play the Union Gap
singing "Honey (I Miss You)" at least ninety million times per day. Well,
maybe I exaggerate slightly; but after the first few times I heard "Honey"
all the way through, I learned to recognize the first notes and lunge for the
"Off" switch. (We didn't have remote control in those days!) "Honey" helped
drive me away from Top 40 and into the refuge of FM album rock.

On Saturday, I happened to walk past the vintage music seller's booth as
Puckett bleated out this loathesome song. (The really shocking thing, to my
mind, is that the song outlived the band! It's been covered at least half a
dozen more times!) I met the dealer's glance, crossed my eyes, stuck my
finger down my throat and mimed projectile vomiting. A woman helping out in
the booth with him nodded her head, made silent clapping motions and grinned
at me. As I walked up another aisle of the flea market, "Honey" suddenly
went silent, and a much better song replaced it.

Lelia
LeliaLoban@-----.com

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