I love an odd coincidence. They’re fun. Nearly always.
A few years back, I had to fly to Las Vegas from some programming convention. I ended up sitting next to a dude I had gone to grade school with at a tiny Catholic school in the Peaselburg area of Covington, KY.
Sometimes though, coincidences can be fucking creepy.
I need to do a little set up here, so please bear with me.
Randy has been working on writing humor for a while now. He’s more dedicated than I am. He hasn’t been working on a piece, really, he’s just writing down lists and lists of funny lines, headlines or thoughts.
So, keep that in mind.
Anyway, we both follow the account of a band in Austin, TX named Titty Bingo. Every Friday, Titty Bingo poses a question to a list of followers.
Last Friday’s question: “What is the last song you want to hear?”
So, I thought about it and settled on Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves because that song always makes me smile and I’d like to go out on a smile.
When I left work Friday, the very first song on the radio was Walking on Sunshine.
While I waited in traffic, I called Randy.
Me: I don’t know if I’m making it home alive.
Randy: I have bourbon waiting for you. At least try.
Me: Did you see the Titty Bingo question this morning? About what is the last song you want to hear?
Randy: Yeah, I didn’t answer yet, but I wrote something down. I didn’t see your response.
Me: Well, I picked Walking on Sunshine and when I got in the car, that is the first thing I heard.
Randy:…
Randy:..
Randy: Holy shit. I have to read to you what I wrote this morning.
Randy: Somebody asked me about the last song I want to hear. Damn, while I get twisted up over the thought of imminent death, I’ve never chosen a fucking soundtrack.
Wait, do I want to hear my final on vinyl or on a phone? Vinyl, but what happens if I die on a busy street and don’t have a record player with me? And really, who at a hospital is going to know how to wire up an amp, turntable and speakers before I fucking die?
Listening to my final song on a phone would probably depress me more than actual death.
I thought ‘what if I could have Michelle sing the final song?’ But what song? Walking On Sunshine? Where she’s actually singing, dancing and happy while I die?
How about Lake of Fire by the Meat Puppets? “Where do bad folks go when they die?…They go to the lake of fire and fry”. Seems appropriate, but I think I could do better.
Okay, I’ve got it, The End by The Doors. The song I played on the jukebox every time when pregnant Michelle and I went to Dixie Chili. Full circle shit.
Me: Are you fucking kidding me? And you didn’t see my tweet?
Randy: Nope.
Me: No way am I making it home today.
Well, obviously, I did make it home. But wait, there is more. Not even kidding.
Randy got an email from a college roommate Friday evening. They haven’t seen each other in over 30 years, but have stayed in touch. His old roommate isn’t on Twitter and lives on the other side of the country.
His college roommate sent him an email asking if he ever wondered about what the last song he heard would be.
I think we probably triggered the apocalypse or something. I’m thinking we need to let Sam and Dean Winchester know and then hold the fuck on.
Also, I will never hear Walking on Sunshine the same again.
I’m curious. In comments, let me know “What is the last song you want to hear?”
Photo courtesy of marcianofab
Lake of Fire would be kinda cool, especially the slam-bang way they played it live the first time I saw them. I still think of that song that night at Ruthie’s Inn in Berkeley in ’88 as the hardest rocked hard rock song I ever saw, and I had never even heard them before.
It seems like it would really depend on the situation, but perhaps Little Wing by Jimi Hendrix?
Harry’s brother Jeff has posted again on Harry’s blog, and tells an eerily coincidental story in the comments that you might like:
http://harryhamid.blogspot.com/2019/09/harrys-heros.html
Oh wow. Just wow. I just got back from Harry’s blog and yes, another coincidence.
Here’s to a good and happy week, my friend.
No contest: “Let The Good Times Roll” by The Cars. RIP Ric Ocasek
(I didn’t realize he was 75, that sounds younger every effin’ day!)
Oh man..yeah, that broke my heart.
I kinda like “Dust in the Wind” by Kansas? That seems to say it all.
It really does
River Wide Mountain High by Tina Turner.
I love that song so much
“Time Has Come Today” by the Chambers Brothers, as it seems to go on forever, therefore I’d never die!
Hahahha…good plan!!!!
Just Can’t Get Enough by Depeche Mode because it makes me smile and it would be true.
OMG that is such a good one!
When this hit my inbox, I thought about the question totally differently than your response — I thought “Why does Michelle hate that song? that’s a great song! It’s so happy!”
See, I thought “The last song I want to hear? Ever? if I never hear it again, it will be too soon, I hate that fuckin’ song, that is the LAST song I want to hear.”
Which would give me a whole different answer.
If it is my final song, the one I want to go out on, the one that will make me feel peaceful about going, It’s “Kentish Town Waltz” by Imelda May. If it is preceded by her version of “Dreamin'” or Dave Alvin’s “Manzanita” or “Run, Conejo, Run,” so much the better.
(Or, my husband at age mumblety-mumble, is finally living his childhood dream of learning piano. If he played and sang his effort at “I’m so glad,” that would be perfect. I mean, not perfect, in a musical sense, perfect in a closure sense.)
Thanks for asking!
Hahaha…I totally see how it looked that way!
I LOVE Walking On Sunshine. It makes me happy. But now, since all these coincidences, I think it might be a harbinger.
Either “ Moon Dance” by Van Morrison or “ Going Out in Style” by Dropkick Murphys. I have eclectic ( or schizophrenic) taste,
BTW, Dancing on Sunshine reminds me of a great trip to Maine, where this was the theme song when the lobsters went into the pot. Lots of screaming from the children, and the lobsters. They were delicious.
The lobsters, not the kids.
Of course the lobsters! Kids are stringy.
“Knocking on Heaven’s Door” – the Guns N Roses version. Preferably the long version but either one is fine. A want a rock beat on my way out. Actually I have a last “playlist” I want played as I shuffle off and at my wake. Along with lots of alcohol and sing along.
Awesome! A plan!
Randy and I are going to be trees in the mountains
I can see clearly now the rain is gone…
It’s gonna be a bright, bright sunshiny day.☀️
That’s a good one!!!!
You guys have some cool vibes goin’ on.
Mine is Aerosmith’s “I don’t wanna miss a thing” mostly because of ties to my daughter. Great story!
Ohhhh…nice choice!!
I LOVE this so much!!! I LOVE coincidences and signs and things I think might have a ‘bigger plan’ and this was a full circle energy continuum that left me a little breathless <3
Linus and Lucy. I immediately picture Snoopy dancing on the piano and when the swell rises to the 'dah-dum-ba-dum' part where he's banging on the piano, I get tears in my eyes that drip ever so slowly from my filled bottom eye-lids. I love all the versions, but the Dave Matthews pirated 'Live at the Red Rocks' impromptu jam version is my fave <3
But, I want 'Ding Dong the Witch is Dead' for my funeral's ambiance 😉 😀
*whispers* Coincidences are high fives from the Universe that you are in the right place at the right time doing the right thing and thinking the right thoughts <3
*kisses*
Now all I can think is, wait, what if you don’t have a chance to prepare? What if death just happens, like if you get hit by a bus or something? Well, I hope that bus driver has “Take The Skinheads Bowling” by Camper Van Beethoven or maybe “Amy Or Spent Gladiator 1” by The Mountain Goats playing.
Or “Better Things” by The Kinks because, you know, if it’s the end of the line for me, I want to send out good wishes to everyone else.
And the reassuring thing about coincidences is how often they surprise you. The point at which you should start worrying is when you stop noticing coincidences and they just become that thing that happens all the time.