Sunday, October 02, 2005

Part Sixty

"You guys aren't being very creative," complained Raoul. "We want more, uh, color."

Peggy smiled to herself as she sipped a glass of white wine with her legs curled beneath her on the floor of Raoul's living room. He was so cute when he was really focused on something. Outside it was a gray, wet Saturday afternoon. Autumn leaves careened through the air and splattered against the windows, decorating the glass with dots of gold, red and brown. A small fire burned in the wood stove.

Raoul was attempting to collaborate with members of his musical group on some song lyrics. Peggy had met them all at previous gatherings. There was Ted, who played lute, and Xena, who played viola da gamba and sang in a mellow alto voice. Xena's granddaughter, Laura, played bass recorder.

"Raoul, maybe you should play the recording again," said Laura. "We might be inspired."

"Maybe you should serve more wine," said Xena, peering into her empty glass.

Peggy passed a bottle of rioja to Xena. As she poured, the stream of dark wine threw off a purple tint as it splashed into her glass.

"Okay, here's Ella Fitzgerald singing the famous Cole Porter song, Let's Do It." Raoul pushed a button on his stereo. "Could we all pay attention this time?"

"Give that man some wine," said Xena.

(Sorry, there was once a link here but it is no longer available.)

Raoul was trying to win a contest. A Seattle public radio station, KPLU, had invited listeners to write their own original verses to Let's Do It. Five entries were going to be selected and sung on the radio by jazz singer Karrin Allyson. The winners would also be treated to dinner at Jazz Alley.

As Peggy listened, a thought came to her and she began to scribble on a pad. When the music was over she cleared her throat.

"How does this sound? I can't sing of course, but it would go something like this..."

'Roos in zoos do it
Maybe in twos with kazoos they do it.
Let's do it. Let's fall in love.


"I love it," said Raoul.

Xena swallowed a sip of wine hurriedly. "Wait, you just inspired me. How about this..." With a lilting, husky voice she sang.

In Kentucky they race to it.
With a mint julep or three they brace through it.
Let's do it. Let's fall in love.


Ted frowned. "I don't know if my lute can do it."

"Of course it can," said Peggy. "If you can."

Ted blushed and started plucking and stretching the strings to find those in-between notes that no renaissance lute player would dream of looking for. But then again, thought Peggy, we weren't there.

Raoul looked at his watch. "What's keeping Kelly Flinn? I need his warped sense of humor at a time like this."

Laura raised a piece of paper timidly. "This is so silly, but here goes..."

Crusty crustaceans and their pals do it.
Even croaking frogs hop to it.
Let's do it. Let's fall in love.


"It'll work," said Raoul. "With this audience you've got to get the environmental angle in somehow."

"What's going on here?" Kelly Flinn entered. "I had to let myself in because no one answered the door."

Xena handed him the rioja. "I'm Xena. Have some wine and put on your thinking cap."

"In that order?" said Kelly, reaching for a glass. "I'm Kelly Flinn." He and Xena shook hands, lingering, Peggy noticed, just a tiny fraction of a second longer than necessary. Then Raoul introduced Kelly to the others.

"We're writing song lyrics," said Raoul. He explained the project and played the Ella Fitzgerald recording for the fourth time.

(Sorry, there was once a link here but it is no longer available.)

"I remember that tune," said Kelly. "Hmm. Wait. Wait. Something comes to mind. You know me, I can't resist the political angle."

"Seems we're covering all the angles," said Peggy.

Raoul looked at her, puzzled at first, and then the light came on. "That has more meanings than I can count."

"I will not volunteer to sing this," said Kelly, holding up a scrap of paper with several cross-outs in heavy pencil.

"I'll see if I can make something of it," said Xena. Ted provided a rhythmic accompaniment on lute while Laura laid down a bluesy bass line on her recorder. Raoul chimed in with his alto recorder. To Peggy's ears they started to sound like a jazz band.

In the Senate they call the roll.
The White House likes to take a poll.
Eventually they resolve to do it. Or not.
Let's do it. Let's fall in love.


Everyone had a good laugh. "I knew Kel would come through."

"It's my natural cynicism," said Kelly.

"I think we need to record this while our inhibitions are down," said Peggy. She got a blank tape loaded while Raoul positioned a microphone. Xena sang through all the verses while the musicians varied the accompanied and worked in a few solos. Peggy and Kelly sat on the floor and provided an audience. She noticed that Kelly seemed mesmerized with Xena's singing.

"You have rich, warm quality to your voice," said Kelly when they were munching on goat cheese and rice crackers topped with bits of smoked salmon.

"Thank you," said Xena. "It was a completely different voice forty years ago."

"It has aged well," said Kelly.

Peggy loaded her napkin with food and hurried away. She found Laura and Ted making plans to attend an early music concert in Seattle during the coming week. They invited Peggy and Raoul to join them.

"As a matter of fact, Raoul and I are going to be out of town this week," said Peggy. She felt her mood suddenly turn gloomy. It was not expected to be a pleasant trip.

"I didn't know you were taking a trip," said Ted.

"Neither did I," said Raoul. "It came up at the last minute. My sister, Fran, has decided to go to New Orleans to help an old friend clean up after the storm. She asked me to come with her."

"And I invited myself," said Peggy.

"I tried to talk her out of it," said Raoul.

"But I insisted. Fran is going to fall apart when she sees the mess down there. Besides, I've met the family and I know they will be busy cleaning up their own homes."

Raoul shrugged. "As you can see I've been out voted."

Peggy giggled without meaning to. "I just thought of another verse."

People making cakes do it.
People jumping into lakes do it.
Some people don't even try to do it.


Xena joined Peggy and they put their heads together.

Let's do it. Let's fall in love.

Then they took a bow.

1 Comments:

At 8:17 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sounds like you had alot of fun this past weekend! We're glad to see 'Peggy' any time and have missed her recently..

 

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