Overheard at Table 4: Starbucks Picks Up

-Man, I went in hoping to get another She and Him song for the pick of the week, and what do I get? Scrabble app.

-Wow. You just can never get what you want on the free stuff these days.

-True that!

Overread at the Counter: a 360 about Courtly and Contemporary Love

361.

How I prefer the poems of old
That spoke of a Love so pure.
When Love restrained, Paradise gained
and, for Honor and Passion, endured.

Although I know those poems of old
Were mostly outright lies,
I prefer them to these harrowed days
When Love, for Pleasure, dies.

Overheard at the Counter: Christmas in the Trenches

One song that just be sung during the Christmas season, and one story that should retold more than any other story, except of course, the Nativity story, is the story of the Christmas truce during World War One. This story might be already known to all war aficionados and folk singers alike, and it tells of how the German and English troops stopped fighting on Christmas Day, and spend this holy day sharing beer and cigarettes, chocolates and pudding, singing Christmas carols together and playing soccer,

When reinforcements arrived after Boxing Day, they were back to the same old dirty war, but at least this story tells of how men who obey their earthly masters (like the obedient dogs they are) can occasionally, if only briefly, heed the call of Peace and Love from their TRUE Master, our Lord and SaviorJesus Christ

Overheard at Table 4

Oh fer godsakes, does everybody have to try to be so all encompassing alla dang time? I swear I jes heard on da tv sum senator jes say that the extension of the tax cut was a good Christmas present . . . And a good Kwanzaa present . . . And a good Hanukkah present. Jumpin Jesus on a pogo stick it's a frikkin Christmas present . . . Why does everything else haveta be put on the same level because it's not, They're not on da same level.

Listen - whether you believe in any of them or not it goes like this: Kwanzaa is the celebration of African culture and how it directly relates to Americans of African decent. Hanukkah is the celebration of how the Jews got rid of the stink of non Jews out of their temple, and Christmas is the celebration of the god of creation coming to earth in human form in order to give the entire human race a pathway to life in eternity.

Like i said, it doesn't matter if you believe in eithe tone or not, but you can not speak of them in the same breath, because they do not carry the same weight, theologically speaking. They should not be mentioned in the same sentence, ever. They are not equal, nor we're they ever intended to be equal. So we should all stop trying to speak of them in an equal vein, just to try to please everybody.

Stuck everybody! Nobody is going to be happy - ever! And it's about time that we just admit it, be respectful, and move the truck on!

Overhears at Booth 1: Yes's "Run with the Fox"

And another you can't forget to add is that Yes song "Run with the Fox" I have no idea what the lyrics are talking about, but then, nobody ever knows what Yes lyrics are all about, but it does mention Christmas by name, and it's just simply completely cool, so it should go in the compilation.

Overheard at the Counter: Dan Fogelberg's "Same Auld Lang Syne"

Lucky Moran says, "I got one for your Christmas comp, but I'm kind of ambivalent toward it, because I love the song but I hate the singer."

"What is it?" asks Steppenwolf.

"'Same Auld Lang Syne' by Dan Fogelberg," says Lucky.

"Yech!" says Otis Redwing. "That syrupy piece of weak drippy French toast."

"But you don't hear it the way I hear it. I hear it with Tom Waits singing it."

"I have to admit," says Verble, looking up from his iPad, "The lyrics fit the overall theme."


Same Auld Lang Syne
Dan Fogelberg


Met my old lover in a grocery store
The snow was falling Christmas Eve
Stole behind her in the frozen foods
and I touched her on the sleeve

She didn't recognize the face at first
but then her eyes flew open wide
Tried to hug me and she spilled her purse
and we laughed until we cried

Took her groceries to the checkout stand
The food was totaled up and bagged
stood there lost in our embarrassment
as the conversation dragged

Went to have ourselves a drink or two
but couldn't find an open bar
Bought a six-pack at the liquor store
and we drank it in the car

We drank a toast to innocence, we drank a toast to now
Tried to reach beyond the emptiness but neither one knew how

She said she'd married her an architect
Kept her warm and safe and dry
She said she'd like to say she loved the man
but she didn't want to lie

I said the years had been a friend to her
and that her eyes were still as blue
But in those eyes I wasn't sure if I saw doubt or gratitude
She said she saw me in the record store
and that I must be doing well

I said the audience was heavenly
but the traveling was hell
We drank a toast to innocence we drank a toast to time
We're living in our eloquence, another old lang syne

The beers were empty and our tongues grew tired
and running out of things to say
She gave a kiss to me as I got out
and I watched her drive away

Just for a moment I was back in school
And felt that old familiar pain
And as I turned to make my way back home
the snow turned into rain


"Man, even if it were redone by Paul Simon, circa 1972 or something," says Steppenwolf, "that'd be better than the Fogelberg version, which is so sad to say about the guy who WROTE the song!

Overheard at Booth 2: Talking Republican Candidates

Well I wouldn't vote for perry, no how.

Oh god no. Perry's nothing but a liar. You know he had his guy, then he fired him and then he brought him back, and this guy took money and owns an island. An ISLAnd.

Yeah, they're all crooks. I consider perry nothing but a political prostitute. I used to like Cain, but you know what I think they got to Cain.

Yeah, they got together to push him out. Because he wasn't part of the establishment.

You know if it came down to it right now, it'd have to be either Gingrich or Romney. I know Gingrich has got some baggage, but you know, he really is the most intelligent one up there.

I wouldn't vote for Romney if he were the only candidate available. He talks like a Democrat.

Yeh he shot himself in the foot all do. He started off strong but the more he talked the more people stopped liking him.

Because he only says what people want to hear. And people can spot that and they don't want to be pandered to anymore.

You know I liked bachmanat first, but I don't really know what happened to her. She was the toughest talking. But then she does sometimes say some kinda crazy things.

Well to be honest with you I liked what some you feller said when they were interviewing people at some rally in Iowa, this kid said the perfect Christmas present this year would be for Ron Paul to win Iowa.

Well, you know, he's still in there. I don't know exactly how he's doing it, but he's still in there, just like Ross Perot was way back then.

Yep. Sure will be interesting, I give it that.