Musically Speaking

 

“I’m telling you,” said Oliver as he joined his friends in their usual booth, “last night was enlightening.  I’ve got a whole new perspective now.”

“Really?” asked Avery.  “And how long did you keep drinking after we left last night?”  Cait and Liam laughed at that; knowing Oliver they figured it was a lot.

“That’s beside the point.  I – ” Oliver paused as the waitress stopped by to drop off their orders.  As they were all in varying degrees of a hang-over, they all dove into their food.

“I realized,” began Oliver between bites, “that there are two kinds of people in the world:  Those who breathe music, and those who don’t.”

“I’m pretty sure there’s an in-between kind,” said Cait as she took a sip of her Bloody Mary. 

“Nope, it’s pretty much 100% one or the other,” said Oliver.

Cait look quizzically at Oliver.  “Didn’t you just binge-watch Guardians of the Galaxy last night and remember what a Zune was?”

“Yeah, I got those texts, too” laughed Liam.

“Clearly, you guys are in the latter group,” muttered Oliver.

“And you breathe music.  Okay, I’ll bite.  Explain,” said Avery.

“It’s easy,” Oliver began.  “It’s because I see a song in everything, and you losers don’t.”  He waited for the collective eye roll, which didn’t take long.  He continued, “I especially see them in movie quotes.  Drop some quotes from any movie, and I’ll show you the songs in them.”

“Any movie?” asked Liam.

“Any movie,” replied Oliver.

“Give him a hard one,” urged Cait as the three of them reached for their phones.

“Okay, I’ve got an impossible one,” said Liam.  “Let’s see what songs you can get from ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.”  

Oliver grinned and took another bite of his hamburger.  “Go for it!”

Liam started scrolling through the quotes and stopped at one.  “Okay, how about ‘if you work for a living, why do you kill yourself working’?”

“‘Cause I work hard for the money,” Oliver sang in reply.

“Well, melodically on point, even if the pronoun isn’t.  Okay, we’ll give you that one,” said Cait.  “Got another one, Liam?”

“Oh, yeah,” replied Liam.  He looked at Oliver.  “There are two kinds of spurs, my friend. Those that come in by the door; those that come in by the window.”

“Hmmm….window….Oh, ‘come to my window…wait by the light of the moon.”

“How do you even know that song?” asked Liam.

Oliver shrugged.  “Just by breathing, dude.” 

Avery grabbed the phone from Oliver’s hand.  “Seriously, give him a hard one.”  She looked through the list.  “I like big fat men like you.”

“I like big butts,” replied Oliver.  Avery shot him a look.  He shrugged and said “I cannot lie.”

Cait choked a little on her drink.  Oliver laughed.  “Come on, you have to admit you all heard that one coming.”

“Fine,” conceded Avery.  “That was a gimme.  Let’s try another: ‘See you soon, idiots.’” She couldn’t help emphasizing the last word.

“See you soon…soon…Sooner than Later, by Sixpence None the Richer,” said Oliver.

“Oh, I do love that band,” sighed Cait.

“This is ridiculous,” said Liam, grabbing his phone back.  “Just like old times. 1, 2, 3, 4..”

“1, 2, 3, 4, get your woman on the floor” answered Oliver.

“Now you’re just making shit up,” said Avery.

“Am not.  That was old school Coolio.”

“Who are you?” asked Liam.

“Heh, I could do this all day,” said Oliver with a laugh.

“Except maybe not here, the waitress keeps staring at us.  I think she wants our table.”

“We’ve got to stump him first, though.  Give him a couple more,” urged Cait.

Liam scrolled down further on his phone. “Hey Blondie, isn’t that Angel Eyes?”

“Oh, come on – Blondie??  Even we all heard that one,” said Avery.

“Plus, Angel Eyes by Sinatra,” added Oliver.  He shrugged off the stares.  “Okay, one more.”

Liam studied the list.  “Okay, here’s a stumper: ‘we have two attacks a day.’”

Without skipping a beat, Oliver replied “‘Sheer Heart Attack.’ Queen, News of the World.”

“Damn, maybe we should have stayed a little longer last night,” muttered Cait as she tossed her napkin on her empty plate.

“Right?!” agreed Avery.  “We could head over to my place and watch those two Guardian movies.  It’s too hot outside to do much else anyway.”

“Or we could watch The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.  I’ve got a great soundtrack for it,” suggested Oliver.

“Ugh!” exclaimed Avery as she stood up.  She picked up a fry from her plate and tossed it at Oliver.  “Don’t ruin those movies for us with more of your music game.  You can save it for later.”

Oliver chuckled to himself as he got up.  It may not be from the movie, but it was still a song quote.  He followed his friends out, quietly humming “save it for later, don’t run away and let me down…”

© Dahlia Ramone: June 28, 2020

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This was written for Blogophilia Topic: “A New Perspective.” 

Writing Prompt:  Use a line from ‘The Good, The Bad & The Ugly’

Side note:  I actually did watch the two Guardians of the Galaxy movies last night, and laughed when the Zune came up (I had forgotten all about that device).  Also, the songs here are all songs that popped into my head as I was researching the movie quotes.  As stated on a t-shirt that a friend bought me, my brain *is* 95% song lyrics.

Blog Soundtrack:

She Works Hard For The Money

Come To My Window

Baby Got Back

Sooner Than Later

1, 2, 3, 4

Angel Eyes
(While a Sinatra song, this is the version/CD that I have)

Sheer Heart Attack

Save It For Later