​Piano Lessons


Listening to gypsy jazz one cool morning
I’m reminded of those terrible off-to-school
Piano lessons, scales, and bad Beethoven
 
As a grade school kid under the scornful
Eye of Mother who now I’m not convinced
Ever played the keys herself thinking it
 
Wasn’t Mother who needed the lessons but
A child who will make something of himself
If only he can catch the click of the metronome
 
Every once in awhile singing the notes of
dah da da da da Da da da Dahh da da da da
da da da hmmmm  hmmmm hmmmm hmmmm
 
then slipping into the noose of a baby tuba
and band practice, and pretending to play
the piccolo at the homecoming parade
 
but voice seemed more and more a possibility
first in choir, then a cappella, double choir,
choir tours through the state, a few solos
 
long before anyone thought of American Idol
but now I neither sing nor play much to the
dismay of Mother who wanted a musician
 
out of her little grade-schooler, but instead,
whenever Sam starts singing "A Kiss is Just a Kiss"
in Casablanca, I always join in knowing no one
 
will hear an old crooner, a little off key,
out of practice, happy just to be off camera,
a little misty-eyed, still looking for lovely Ilsa.
​

Hear the original recording of Herman Hupfeld's 1931 classic,
AS TIME GOES BY, sung by Dooley Wilson ("Sam")
HERE