In My room
This one is going to be short and sweet like a creamsicle on a hot summer day.
I’ve mentioned before how I’ve always liked the writer Bob Greene. He had another great one the other day. Bob was walking along the Hudson River on a hot summer Sunday. At the far end of the pier, he heard somebody singing the Beach Boys song “In My Room” and spotted an African-American man alone with his electric keyboard.
The guy was Daniel Al-Manteen, 74 years old. So Bob asked him what got him to be singing that tune on this day. Daniel said he was feeling kinda sad about all the people he’s lost as the years have gone by. His father, mother, brother, and sister. His best friend and his wife.
He was singing the tune because it was “so beautiful and simple.” He wanted to remind himself that “the people we have loved have left us but they are with us forever every time we think about them.” Yeah, he’s right. Songs can do that. He said this song just reminds him “you need a place where you can go and stay out of the maelstrom.”
We could all use that today. Bob told Daniel he’d find a way to tell Brian Wilson, who wrote that song, about Daniel’s rendition on the Hudson. Daniel said to please tell him thank you for everything. Hey, during the British Invasion the Beach Boys were America’s band.
Keep your dukes up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ12fKVuHsM
If you know someone who’d like these ditties in their inbox every week, have ‘em shoot us an email at darbyo@darbyobrien.com and we’ll add ‘em to the list.