Your Assignment, Should You Accept It...
Kimi and I were talking tonight about blogging and how different people enjoy the process of writing and some enjoy the process of consuming that writing. As a few others before her, she doubts that she would be able to keep a blog going for a consistent period of time. This led me to think about how and when I decided to blog.
I first discovered the concept of blogging in 2001. A coworker that I had been pretty close to took a job in another city. He had friends all over the country and was a brilliantly creative person. He began his blog as a hip way to keep in touch with his friends from all over the country. I was a faithful reader and commenter. I loved being the audience. I guess I didn't realize how much I loved being a writer until he gave his readers an assignment.
Unfortunately, February 2006 marked the one year anniversary of Mike's death. In an effort to stimulate those of you who want to write, but need a motivation to do so and as a way to honor a really hip guy, I am going to give you the same writing challenge that he issued to his friends.
I think he based (read: stole) the concept from somewhere else, but since I don't know the original source, I'm happy to only cite Mike. The assignment is to pick a song that has meaning in your life and write about it. It could be a favorite song or a song associated with a particular memory or the song your mother used to sing to you - anything. Just think about it and tell us why it is important to you.
Send your assignments to me through email and I will figure out a way to post them (probably through web space I have with my ISP). For now, I will post the one that I wrote for Mike's blog.
Horse N. Buggy
Write an essay about a song? My first thought was to tell you that The Reflex by Duran Duran is my oldest favorite song. But as I typed that, another song came to mind; one that is older than time. I'm going back to childhood, early childhood for this...
I'm a performer. I love to make people laugh. I love to sing. I love to dance. I learn the words to a song after I've heard it just a couple of times. These are innate personality traits, I couldn't get rid of them if I tried. I remember the older brother of a 6th grade friend. He drove me home from her house one afternoon. Like any typical teenage boy, he turned on the radio instead of talking to his little sister and her friend. What did I do? I sang along with the radio. It annoyed him so he changed the channel. I sang that song, too. He changed the station again. Again, I knew that song. After about 6 or 7 attempts to find a song I didn't know, he asked in annoyance, "Do you know every song on the radio?" I guess that's when I figured out that everyone else didn't.
So what does that have to do with this essay? Well, I'm writing about the very first song I recall learning the words to. There have been thousands since, maybe hundreds of thousands - who knows? But that first one is truly special. And it goes like this:
"There was a farmer had a dog and Bingo was his name-o. B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O. And Bingo was his name-o."
I guess it's more of a ditty, than a song. And some of you will baulk because I left out the disappearing letters in the refrain. Well, I never sang it that way. It still doesn't sound right to hear people sing it like that. My way was to find anything that was at least 6 inches off the ground to stand on as my stage and grab a hairbrush or a pool cue or an upright vacuum cleaner handle to serve as my microphone. I'd stand on that stage (usually in little more than my diaper) and perform for whoever was in the room. My parents loved for me to perform for them and visiting friends and family. I have an aunt who still cracks up over one particular performance.
Evidently, I watched a little too much Mike Douglas (or Dinah Shore or whoever had a daytime variety show on at the time). At the end of my performance, I bowed to my well-deserved thunderous applause and said something too fast for the audience to understand. They stopped me and asked me to repeat whatever I'd said. Well, I couldn't repeat it without bowing at the same time. But they still had trouble deciphering it. After a few more bows, my parents figured out that I was saying, "Thank you ladies and gentlemen, nice to be on your show." I was prepared for my debut and at least I was going to be polite when it finally came.
The rest of the story is that the audience really lost it when they figured out what I was saying (I couldn't have been more than 2 years old.) But even then I knew how an audience should react to certain material. I knew they weren't supposed to be laughing so hard. So I instructed them in proper audience etiquette by saying, "That was a little bit funny, not a lot funny." I lost them again. I guess I was funnier than I realized.
My performances branched out to include other songs and other acts. I still love Karaoke, though I'm neither as cute nor as funny as I used to be. But it was Bingo that started it all.
I first discovered the concept of blogging in 2001. A coworker that I had been pretty close to took a job in another city. He had friends all over the country and was a brilliantly creative person. He began his blog as a hip way to keep in touch with his friends from all over the country. I was a faithful reader and commenter. I loved being the audience. I guess I didn't realize how much I loved being a writer until he gave his readers an assignment.
Unfortunately, February 2006 marked the one year anniversary of Mike's death. In an effort to stimulate those of you who want to write, but need a motivation to do so and as a way to honor a really hip guy, I am going to give you the same writing challenge that he issued to his friends.
I think he based (read: stole) the concept from somewhere else, but since I don't know the original source, I'm happy to only cite Mike. The assignment is to pick a song that has meaning in your life and write about it. It could be a favorite song or a song associated with a particular memory or the song your mother used to sing to you - anything. Just think about it and tell us why it is important to you.
Send your assignments to me through email and I will figure out a way to post them (probably through web space I have with my ISP). For now, I will post the one that I wrote for Mike's blog.
Horse N. Buggy
Write an essay about a song? My first thought was to tell you that The Reflex by Duran Duran is my oldest favorite song. But as I typed that, another song came to mind; one that is older than time. I'm going back to childhood, early childhood for this...
I'm a performer. I love to make people laugh. I love to sing. I love to dance. I learn the words to a song after I've heard it just a couple of times. These are innate personality traits, I couldn't get rid of them if I tried. I remember the older brother of a 6th grade friend. He drove me home from her house one afternoon. Like any typical teenage boy, he turned on the radio instead of talking to his little sister and her friend. What did I do? I sang along with the radio. It annoyed him so he changed the channel. I sang that song, too. He changed the station again. Again, I knew that song. After about 6 or 7 attempts to find a song I didn't know, he asked in annoyance, "Do you know every song on the radio?" I guess that's when I figured out that everyone else didn't.
So what does that have to do with this essay? Well, I'm writing about the very first song I recall learning the words to. There have been thousands since, maybe hundreds of thousands - who knows? But that first one is truly special. And it goes like this:
"There was a farmer had a dog and Bingo was his name-o. B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O, B-I-N-G-O. And Bingo was his name-o."
I guess it's more of a ditty, than a song. And some of you will baulk because I left out the disappearing letters in the refrain. Well, I never sang it that way. It still doesn't sound right to hear people sing it like that. My way was to find anything that was at least 6 inches off the ground to stand on as my stage and grab a hairbrush or a pool cue or an upright vacuum cleaner handle to serve as my microphone. I'd stand on that stage (usually in little more than my diaper) and perform for whoever was in the room. My parents loved for me to perform for them and visiting friends and family. I have an aunt who still cracks up over one particular performance.
Evidently, I watched a little too much Mike Douglas (or Dinah Shore or whoever had a daytime variety show on at the time). At the end of my performance, I bowed to my well-deserved thunderous applause and said something too fast for the audience to understand. They stopped me and asked me to repeat whatever I'd said. Well, I couldn't repeat it without bowing at the same time. But they still had trouble deciphering it. After a few more bows, my parents figured out that I was saying, "Thank you ladies and gentlemen, nice to be on your show." I was prepared for my debut and at least I was going to be polite when it finally came.
The rest of the story is that the audience really lost it when they figured out what I was saying (I couldn't have been more than 2 years old.) But even then I knew how an audience should react to certain material. I knew they weren't supposed to be laughing so hard. So I instructed them in proper audience etiquette by saying, "That was a little bit funny, not a lot funny." I lost them again. I guess I was funnier than I realized.
My performances branched out to include other songs and other acts. I still love Karaoke, though I'm neither as cute nor as funny as I used to be. But it was Bingo that started it all.
8 Comments:
I REALLY like this assignment, and I'll tackle it as soon as the page stops swimming. It's already narrowed down to two songs.
I've got one for you.
But I don't have your email address....
Affie has my email address. You can get it from her.
Got it. And sent it. :-)
Oh my, you are so cute and adorable and funny.
As for the assignment, one "classic" come to mind. The ever creative "thong song," moves us with its ingenious lyrical display that not only liberated women from granny panties but revolutionized the undergarment industry.
Cool assignment. I'll think on it...odds are it'll be 3 years before I get it done, me & my procrastinating self.
Based on T's comment, we should be very good friends.
Kimi, I prefer "Rump Shaker" to "The Thong Song." How can you resist a man who says, "All I wanna do is zoom a zoom zoom zoom and a boom boom?" I think I will walk down the aisle to it.
Post a Comment
<< Home