Mickey Z

Cool Observer

Saturday, October 07, 2006

“Yeah, yeah, yeah"

Storytelling Saturday goes mop top

Once upon a time...

He looks like a goddamned leprechaun. The skinny young white guy strumming his guitar in the Lexington Avenue subway station sings like Buddy Holly on amphetamines...or the Chipmunks on sedatives (not sure which).

A black guy—maybe 50 or so—cheers on the leprechaun. “Play more,” he yells…in his Coca Cola t-shirt. Leprechaun waits until the downtown N pulls out before launching into “She Loves You.” Black guy sings along and I wonder when he learned so many of the words: Back in the day or from the oldies station at work?

Leprechaun sings: “She says she loves you and you know that can’t be bad.”
Black guy calls back: “Say what?”
Leprechaun answers: “You know she loves you and you know you should be glad.”
Leprechaun and his fan together: “Wooooooooooo!”

To my right, a white woman is dancing. She’s got divorced school teacher/registered Democrat written all over her bespectacled face...old enough to recall swooning over Paul, she boogies with unabashed fervor.

The Queens-bound R train pulls in. I toss some coins into the leprechaun’s guitar case. Me and the black guy get on the train.

He sings all the way to Astoria: “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

Who else wants to spin a yarn?
The comments section awaits...