Today is Talk Like a Pirate Day, but I didn’t make a big deal of it because I value the friendship of someone who, if I had posted about it this morning, would have cursed me roundly for setting off a certain person in non-stop pirate talk.  By the time this is posted, it will be but a fond memory.

You’re welcome, Bob.

James J. Walker was a songwriter and also the mayor of New York.

This was the number one song on the radio in my parents’ Pontiac when Dad drove Mom to hospital to bring me into the world on this day in 1952.

My local cable company, Xfinity, has a commercial in heavy rotation wherein a horny teenage boy is trying to sneak into his girlfriend’s room via the trellis and window only to be met by her dad, whose phone tips him off that the erstwhile Romeo’s phone has connected to the home network.  Busted.

Whoever came up with the spot had the great sense to use this classic doo-wop song by the Strollers from 1957.

Written by Maurice Ravel in memory of friends lost in World War I, it’s not mournful or sentimental, but in honor of the joy of friendship and closeness, camaraderie and humor.  Ravel turned his loss into a beautiful and happy tribute; the way they would have wanted to be remembered.  And on this anniversary of another horrible event, let’s remember the loss not with tears but with fond remembrance and let their love of life shine through.

I was reminded of this old favorite today.

It’s not true a cappella; all they did was mute the orchestra track (which you can hear faintly in the background).  But it does show how well they can sing.