"Me and Mrs. Jones"

A co-worker and I started carpooling last year.  (Read more here)  It’s worked out rather well until one day this week he needed to get somewhere after work that was in the opposite direction of my house.  Luckily another co-worker that lives near me was able to give me a lift.  So I had the unexpected pleasure of sitting in the back seat with his two-year old son.  I was told he may serenade me and I was ready to enjoy some “Itsy Bitsy Spider” or “The Wheels on the Bus.”  However, as soon as the iPod was inserted into the player, my little friend was asked by his parents, “Douglas, what song would you like to hear?”  He responded, “Bad to the Bone.”  Wow, ok, I could go for some George Thorogood.  As soon as the song began,  little Douglas started rockin’ out.  As he sang I thought to myself he’s going to “break a thousand hearts” if he keeps this up.  His mother told me about his playlist and when it came time for the next request, I whispered in his ear, “Rock the Boat,” just to irritate his classical/jazz/rock loving dad.  Douglas was not swayed by my request for disco as he asked for “Me and Mrs. Jones.” Interesting song.  It was also one of my two-year old’s favorite songs.  I have a video of Matthew at twenty-two months singing his rendition of that 1972 hit about an extramarital affair.  He sang, “Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Joooooones, MRS. JOOOOOOOOOOOOONES!”  Douglas stuck to the original arrangement and serenaded me.

Now since the “Me and Mrs. Jones” days, Matthew’s taste in music has obviously been influenced by his father and I.  He appreciates progressive rock, classic rock, classical, jazz, and blues because of his father.  And rock, pop, disco and mushy love songs well, you can figure that one out.  Recently, because of reconnections on Facebook, I’ve been into the 70’s pop songs of my grade school days.  I found a cd in the clearance section at Tuesday Morning, whose title is a bit of misnomer, “Rock ‘N Roll’s Greatest Hits of All Time, 70’s.”  To me it is great though, it has “Right Back Where We Started From,”  “Hot Child in The City,” AND “Sharing the Night Together,” by Dr. Hook.  I’m in heaven while Matthew can’t believe Nick Gilder is a man.

One night as we were cleaning up the dinner dishes, Matthew said, “You know what’s the most over used phrase in songs?”  “What?,” I asked.  “Make love,” he tells me.  I’m glad we’d finished eating or I may have choked.  He asked me why that was and somehow we both came to the conclusion because that sounds nicer than ‘have sex.’  Afterall, how would, “Come on down to my place woman, we’ll have seeeeeex,” sound?  Then Matthew asked me another question that I couldn’t really answer, “How come rappers don’t say, ‘Yo, Yo, Yo, let’s make love’?”  We laughed and I wondered to myself if Douglas would soon be asking his mom and dad, why Billy Paul and Mrs. Jones have to be extra careful as they meet at the same cafe.