Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Take a Letter, Maria

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In this song, R. B. Greaves gets a shock when he gets home from work. When is the last time you were surprised? Was it a happy or sad surprise? It was a shitty surprise. My boss is not only making me come in on a day I was scheduled for vacation, I have to do a client presentation. AAARGH!  

2)  Mr. Greaves sings that he didn't get home until "about a half past ten." That's a very long workday. No wonder his wife felt neglected! Have you ever had trouble maintaining balance between homelife and career? Obviously (see above). I've solved the problem by giving up on having a personal life.
 
3) According to the song, "Maria" is a secretary. Have you ever worked in an office? Every workday since I was 17.
 

4)  In today's office, R.B. Greaves wouldn't ask Maria to "take a letter." Instead, he'd keystroke his own email to his wife and cc his lawyer before hitting, "send." Think of another phrase, like "take a letter," that we seldom hear anymore because of technology. "Be kind, rewind."

5) "Maria" is mentioned in many songs ("Maria" from West Side Story, "Maria, Shut Up and Kiss Me" by Willie Nelson, "How Do Solve a Problem like Maria?" ...) but Crazy Sam discovered  few, if any, "Samantha" songs. Does your first name figure prominently in any lyrics? The bells are ringing for me and my gal, the birds are singing for me and my gal ...

6) 1969 was the year that Neil Armstrong first stepped on the moon. Do you believe in life on other planets? Intellectually, of course. Emotionally, not at all. How do I integrate these two conflicting views? By not thinking about it.

7) In 1969, the Beatles performed publicly for the last time as a band, on the roof of Abbey Road studios. When did you last climb up onto your roof? I live in a condo building and have only seen my roof once, before I closed on the place. I accompanied the building inspector. The roof was flat and black and not terribly interesting.

8) Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries sold at a brisk pace at Christmastime in 1969. Were you a fan of these books? If not, tell us about a book you remember enjoying when you were young. Oh, I was a massive Nancy Drew fan when I was a little girl. Which is why I was so tickled to see this, this manual typewriter, when I visited the Soboroff Typewriter Collection last spring. (Yes, I'm geeky enough to actually go look at old typewriters, and then to be thrilled.) There, along with Truman Capote's and Tennessee Williams' and Ernest Hemingway's, was the typewriter used by Carolyn Keene to write about Nancy, Bess, George and Ned. This typewriter is too modern for the first book, which was written in 1929 and published in 1930. But it's still pretty damn cool.

9) Random question: Do you consider yourself old fashioned? Hell, yes. I think I'm probably the most typical Baby Boomer in the world, which must make me seem rather quaint to millennials.