The (Not So) Exciting Stories Of My Adventures In The Japanese Countryside...

"If we are always arriving and departing, it is also true that we are eternally anchored. One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things." -Henry Miller

Thursday, October 26, 2006

When bad things happen to good songs


Two days ago K and I visited our very good friends in Honai, a lovely elderly couple who own a coffee shop. We had dinner with them and about six of their closest (also elderly) friends. The evening ended in karaoke during which they proceeded to serenade us with some of the prettiest old Japan love songs I ever heard (one was even over 100 years old).

They requested we sing an English song for them and we willingly obliged. As you can imagine, the English selection was fairly limited but we settled on "Stand by Me" (Ben E. Kings version). A nice, respectable, innocuous song, right? Charming, even (it was a popular wedding song back in the day).

Wrong!!!

The song cued up. The words and video came onto the television screen. We grabbed the mics and prepared to sing when, to our absolute horror, the following image appeared on the television: a tall, blond woman scantily clad in a short, tight leather dress and fishnet stockings is leaning against a pool table in a smoky bar. She stares at the man across the room and proceeds to...

....give her pool stick...
...a provocative...
...three minute...
....HAND JOB!

Ehhhhh??? We were mortified. The other guests were silent. I do believe I went deaf and blind all at once. I mean, I regard this couple as family - grandparents! I can't even imagine what kind of song they thought we were singing to them.

The images got worse. Soon, K's and my mortification escalated into a peal of uncontrollable giggles. We did our best to muddle through but the whole thing was genuinely awful.

So my question to you is, what is the appropriate omiyage to send in a situation like this? Does Hallmark make a card which says "Dear Grandma and Grandpa, Sorry I presented you with p*rnography in front of your friends?"

Let me know.

4 Comments:

  • At 1:23 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Oh my God. I about pee'd my pants reading this post!

    At least "You Are my Sunshine" had nothing worse than California strip kids shakin' some booty, right?

     
  • At 10:57 AM, Blogger Angie said…

    Yes, thank goodness...my fragile heart just couldn't take anymore triple x karaoke that evening!

     
  • At 10:04 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    haha that's hilarious!! No wonder J-people have such a strange view of foreigners :)

     
  • At 9:43 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    At least you didn't end up in Scorpion!

     

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