saturday 9: angie baby

Hello, friends. I woke up late after building up a massive sleep debt this past week, and now I'm watching the University of Miami game (my alma mater) against SMU, which we're currently winning. It's still pretty early yet, though. (P.S. Nope, we went to overtime and did not win. Sigh.)

This week's song is calle "Angie's Baby," which I haven't heard before. Yet. Link up here if you're going to join up, right along with me. And then also join me in visiting some of the other players, because I am going to do that!

[But wait -- those of you who use Blogger (since I'm new to the platform), do you know how I can get rid of the pink background from Crazy Sam's site when I copy/paste the questions? Just changing the background question does not work.]

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Saturday 9: Angie Baby (1974)
Unfamiliar with this week's featured song? Hear it here.

 

1) This week's song is a spooky one about a young man who breaks into the bedroom of a troubled girl named Angie. Their encounter doesn't go well and he's never seen again. Though there's been gossip, no one knows for sure what happened to him. Does your town have any scary legends that have been passed down through the decades?

Not sure. We've only lived here since 2020, and we just don't know that many people to get the juicy secrets from.

 2) Songwriter Alan O'Day said he drew upon aspects of his own childhood to come up with "Angie Baby." He was an only child who often stayed home sick from school, with only Top 40 radio for company. What do you recall when you think about sick days as a kid?  

Oh, that's a tricky question, for me. I grew up in a cult (Christian Science) where "sickness" was regarded as an error in thinking, not a physical matter. So I was not allowed to go to my father and say, "Dad, I'm sick." This was after my mother's dramatic death at 33 due to undiagnosed, untreated diabetes, it came out after her autopsy.

I never used the word "sick" in my house as a kid once, not ever. (My dad was also physically, mentally, emotionally, and otherwise abusive, so I wasn't going to try it.) However, I was sick excessively. Turns out I have several immunodeficiencies, all of which my daughter Chloë has inherited from me. The best I could say was, "I don't feel too good," or something like that, and Dad would say something like "Oh, are you feeling wimpy?" or "poorly?" My demon stepmother, to her credit, often found a way for me to stay home from school and often came home during her lunch to bring me some soup.

3) Helen Reddy said she enjoyed hearing what her fans thought happened in "Angie Baby." Can you think of another song that is open to interpretation?

It can be interpreted in a lot of ways, but Simon & Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence" speaks to me about our failure to communicate these days as a society.

4) When Helen and her husband/manager Jeff Wald heard "Angie Baby" the first time, they immediately agreed she should record it. She went into the studio that afternoon and in less than 10 days, disc jockeys were playing it and "Angie Baby" became an international hit. When were you glad you acted on impulse?

Twenty-five years ago, I met this guy on the interwebs, quickly fell in love, and poo-pooed EVERYBODY who told me I was rushing into things when I married him just two months later. On January 2nd, we'll celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary.

 Questions inspired by Halloween .... 

5) Though best known as a recording artist, Helen Reddy also acted on occasion and appeared as a singing nun in Airport 1975. A nun's habit is a popular Halloween costume. Will you/did you dress up this year?

I did not, but Chloë - who handed out our candy and Teal Pumpkin Project treats this year - did. I don't know how well this photo I took translates through your screen, but she had this "sexy pirate" thing going on.  She looked great!

6) In 2024, more Americans than ever dressed their dogs up for Halloween. Have you ever taken your pup with you trick-or-treating?

 

I don't think we've ever taken any of doggos trick-or-treating, but we've certainly been known to dress up our dogs and cats for Halloween! Here are two of my favorites for Paco, eight years apart.

7) According to the Guinness Book of Records, the award for highest number of jack-o-lanterns in one place went to Keene, NH, where in 2013 there were 30,581. Did you carve a pumpkin for Halloween this year?

Oh, my gosh, no, we didn't! We had planted several types, but they didn't emerge. We were waiting to see if they did before we bought any to carve - and we forgot! I'm actually realizing this real time, and I'm shocked!

8) In years gone by, the Irish celebrated Halloween not with pumpkins but by carving turnips, potatoes and beets. Are any of those foods in your kitchen right now?

There are potatoes, but not turnips, in the pantry right now. And we have these and another kind of beets planted in the half-barrel here, along with rainbow chard. I don't think we're going to see the chard, sadly. I love it.

 

9) Some Elvis fans insist his ghost hovers in the trees over Graceland. Have you ever seen a ghost?

I don't think so, but I'm not sure I'd recognize it if I did! I do have Bipolar 1 disorder with psychosis, which is a lot of fun, don'tcha know, so I hallucinate visions, sounds, smells, and tastes occasionally. Maybe some of those "visions" actually weren't? Who knows?

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Well, I've got some ordering and editing work I've got to get done today, and then hopefully I'll have enough juice left in the battery to come around and visit everyone. If not, a nap first. Take care, y'all.

xoxo