So I’m at the bus stop with a bag of groceries and a bag of beer…

My app says the bus is going to take 20 minutes to arrive. Weirdly, I am happy that it will be a little while because:

• It is Friedeggs, and the only place I am going is home
• The weather is gorgeous after a week of unpleasant heat and humidity
• I haven’t been getting enough sun since about 2010

After a few minutes, another guy comes along and waits for the bus too. He looks to be about the same age as me, and in a good mood as well. His sandals lead me to believe he is enjoying the sun and pleasant weather as well. He was wearing sandals, which struck me as somewhat odd, so let’s call him that – Sandals.

He stands about eight meters away, and we don’t speak, because that’s how (sane) Canadians roll.

I recognize the song, but can’t figure out the name of it or the singer. It’s a female singer who kinda sounds like Tina Turner and kinda sounds like Janice Joplin, but I knew it wasn’t either of those icons.

(I experienced a similar thing at the same bus stop a while ago. It was the same Bluetooth speaker, but instead of a man, it was a woman, and instead of a song I couldn’t remember the name of it was a Beatles “deep cut” that I hadn’t heard in a while. (Radio does have The Beatles down to about 3 songs and Oasis these days, but I digress.)

Once DJ Grandpappy gets to me, he extols the virtues of the song he is sharing with me:

“Great song! Fantastic singer!”

I nod and give him a heartfelt thumbs up.

8 meters later, he again canvases for the unknown song with “my brother Sandals” who also gives him a thumbs up. Two Thumbs Up! DJ Grandpappy got the old skewl “Siskel & Ebert Treatment” down Davisville way.

Once the Cavalcade of Hits has eased on down, eased on down the road¹, Sandals looks at me and I look at him. We just smile, shrug, and share more thumbs up.

When the bus finally arrives, there are two back-to-back. I wait for the second one because it is less crowded than the first.

Sandals is halfway on his bus when he turns around and shouts over, and we engage in a deep, meaningful conversation:

“I had to Google the song, I didn’t know what it was.” – Sandals

“I’m going to look it up when I get home.” – me

“Dusty Miller!“*

“Thanks, I knew it wasn’t Janice!”

Once I got home, I googled anyway so I could hear the entire song.

It turns out that it was Dusty Springfield’s version of “Son of a Preacher Man” off her 1968 Gold album, Dusty in Memphis.

Here’s Dusty Miller/Springfield picking things up on the Ed Sullivan stage, right from where The Beatles left ’em:

*Incidentally, Dusty Miller is actually a plant known as silver ragwort, so maybe “Sandals” is a recreational gardener. Today though, even a mistaken name couldn’t dampen the simple joy of a song, the sun, and a few smiling thumbs up. Sometimes, that’s all you need.

1. I was thinking of the Diana Ross/Michael Jackson version from the movie The Wiz when I wrote this. More fun was had when Wikipedia reminded me that Della Reese sang Ease on Down the Road on Sanford and Son in 1975. ↩︎

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