Sing-Along

Hot on the heels of my last post – and I swear I am not making this up – I had the most fun experience walking to work this morning.

Having reluctantly pulled myself out of bed and conducted my regular morning ritual, I was dressed and on my way to work. On 14th Street, I passed a pair of black women who were also, I presume, on their way to work, heading in the same direction as I was. Thought nothing of them (well, except for the fact they were both carrying plastic bags containing what I assume to be lunch, including one which contained a mini-bag of Munchos, which I LOVE and which made me instantly crave their oh-so-salty goodness), walked past them, left them in my dust as they strolled along.

With the women no more than 20 feet behind me, a car slowly drives by us and situates herself at a red light. The driver's stereo is loud and her sunroof is opened just a tad, enough to broadcast to a decent hearing range that she was listening to the Jennifer Hudson version of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going." (Really. I kid you not. The day after I post about this. I can't escape it, I tell ya.)

Unable to help myself, I sing along softly to myself because, despite what I said in yesterday's post, I do like the song itself. "I'm not living without you. I'm not living without you. I'm staying...."

At around this point, I realize I'm not alone. Sure enough, one of the two women I passed not ten seconds before has chosen to join in on this impromptu karaoke, but with a lot more gusto than I would have mustered. (I'm guessing it was probably because she was with a friend which made her look like less of a freak.) "I'm staying," she sings out (as in "Sing out, Girlfriend!"). "And you, and you.... YOU'RE GONNA LOVE ME-E-E-E-E-E-E-E!" she lets out. Not as good as J-Hol or J-Hu (I actually hate those abbreviations) but with enough of a vibrato voice as to make it pretty impressive.

I wanted to join in, but I thought that would be weird, so I just kept my own singing to myself. Instead of singing along to just a car stereo, I ended up joining in with a nice young woman on the street. It was a nice way to start the morning.

***

I think it would be fun, as Chrisafer suggests, to do periodic sing-alongs in the city. Dreamgirls, West Side Story, Grease, The Sound of Music, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.... the possibilities could be endless!