Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Lazy Bones (1975)

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

1) This song is about a guy who'd rather nap than do his chores. Are there things you should be doing right now, instead of hanging around the blogosphere, answering these questions? I'm writing this just after midnight, so I probably should be in bed, asleep. I have emails to answer. My dining room table is covered in paperwork. I need to update my finances on Quicken. So yes, there are plenty of things I should be doing right now. But, like you, here I am in the blogosphere.

2) This song mentions a lazy afternoon of fishing. When did you last go fishing? Not since I was a little girl. I didn't enjoy it. I was bored and felt sorry for the fish.

3) The lyrics catch our hero sleeping in both the sun and the shade. Do you have a nice, shady place to nap on your front lawn? Or would we catch you lying in the sun? Right now, there is literally nowhere to sleep on our front lawn. It's covered by sawhorses, courtesy of the Public Works Department who dug a big hole to replace something-or-other concerning a water meter.

4) This week's featured artist, Leon Redbone, is a difficult man to nail down. Over the years he's claimed to be born in Ontario, and Philadelphia, and even Cyprus. Tell us about a time you got caught in a fib. Wow, I haven't thought about this in years! But it was in fourth grade. There had been a big snowstorm, and the few of us that had made it into school were huddled outside the door, waiting to be let into the building. An older girl, one that I idolized, was saying that she'd heard on the radio that our school was closed, but she decided to come over and see for herself.

In retrospect, her story makes no sense. But I was in fourth grade. And I was so excited that a 7th grader was actually speaking to me -- or at least in my general direction -- I piped up, "I heard that, too!"

We finally got into class and were thawed out and in our desks. My teacher wondered aloud about why there were so few of us in class. After all, big snow during a Chicago winter is no big deal. One of my classmates announced, "The Gal said she heard on the radio school was closed!"

"Really, Gal?" my teacher asked, "What station?"

"I never said that. I didn't hear anything," I mumbled.

"Yes, you did," Big Mouth Classmate insisted.

I wanted to die.
 
5) Mr. Redbone has said that taking himself too seriously would be "the gentle kiss of death." What's something that you always take seriously and just can't joke about? Cruelty to animals or children.

6) He has retired from public life, and that includes his Facebook page, which is no longer available. What did you last post to your Facebook page? I "liked" this story about the Cubs adorable first baseman announcing his engagement.

Aw ... So happy for Anthony Rizzo and his girl, Emily.

7) Leon always wore dark glasses when he performed. Do your sunglasses have gray, green, brown or rose colored lenses? I've got a drawer full of sunglasses, but lately I have been wearing transition lenses that turn green.

8) Recently Dick Van Dyke performed this song at a charity benefit, aided by his a capella quartet, The Vantastix. Last year, at age 90, he campaigned for Bernie Sanders. So Mr. Van Dyke is certainly not a "lazy bones." Who's the most active, energetic person in your life? My friend, Nancy. She works a full week, drives her daughter all over, has "date nights" with her husband and still does a lot of charity work. (I sleep on the sofa.)

9) Random question: You're at dinner with friends and someone begins a very long joke with, "Stop me if you've heard this before." You have heard it, many times before. Do you stop him? Or do you just sit through it again? It costs nothing to be kind at a moment like this. I'll sit through it again.