Mixology

My pal Jason Rowan -- the king of cocktails who was just featured in The New York Times -- wrote to tell me he was more a fan of Rupert Holmes' "Answering Machine" than personal-ad anthem "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)". I'd completely forgotten about that one, but I had to laugh at how Holmes chose to write about two new "fads" of the era. Couldn't help but wonder if I'd missed his other big single, "Microwave to Your Heart."

 

Music Box: 'Escape (The Pina Colada Song)'

There have been countless documented cases of misheard song lyrics over the years -- I'm still not convinced the Go-Go's aren't saying "There's a weapon that we must use -- an optic lens, to spy on them" in "Our Lips Are Sealed" -- so it's not all that surprising that Michael caught me singing the wrong line to a Sheena Eaton song recently. (Yes, don't laugh: you know I've been on a kick lately ... and I still think "You should have been with me, instead of alone with nothing" is a WAY BETTER lyric that the repetitious "instead of alone and lonely" -- but perhaps that's the editor in me at work).

No sooner had he corrected me on that one did he stun me with an explanation of a song we've all heard forever, but that I never "noticed" what it was about. Can't remember what led us there, but he suddenly said, "You know, that song about the personal ads?" I immediately said, "You mean the Honey Cone's 'Want Ads'?" -- an all-time fave of mine on my iPod -- and he said, "No, the one where the guy ends up responding to his wife's ad."

This went on for 10 minutes before the clues finally came together and I realized he was talking about "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes -- aka the last No. 1 of the 1970s. I've probably heard that song a thousand times and it never dawned on me once that that's what it was about (who ever paid attention to the verses, anyway?). Suddenly as Mikey sang it to me, all the words told a very clear story, yet all I'd ever heard it as was two people on a date talking about what they had in common -- not some guy reading from a his own lady's personal ad while she slept right there beside him. (The fact that I had known the song as "The Gina Kolata Song" for the past seven years -- a nod to the Times science writer -- didn't help clarify things much, either.)

It got me wondering about what other songs and lyrics might have been completely lost on me over the years (obviously man). Would love to hear from you if you've ever had a pop-music epiphany too! Oh, and if you're as lost as I was with "Escape" -- and who knew it was originally just called that? -- then watch the video below, complete with lyrics. It won't make the song any better, but it might make a hell of a lot more sense.