Fabulous Friday: P Bergen and R Goulet

I joined the Planet Fitness in my new neighborhood a couple of months ago. They have piped in music that isn't really my style so I dug up my iPod and have been using that and my noise-canceling headphones while I'm doing my 18 minutes on the Stairmaster. I burn over 200 calories and climb up 75 flights of stairs in that 18 minutes! Woo hoo!

I did this weird thing when I was a teenager. I would think, "I bet I'm the only teenager on earth reading Waiting For Godot right now." That kind of thing. I think it was my way of feeling like I was special and unique. And BTW I'm sure I was NEVER the only teenager reading Waiting For Godot.

Well, my first time listening to my music at the gym I had one of those thoughts. It was, "I bet I'm the only person at Planet Fitness worldwide who's listening to Polly Bergen on his iPod." I think that's a pretty safe bet, don't you think?

Last week I was at the gym listening to a compilation I bought in London in the 90s, Easy Listening Bacharach. My favorite track is this one, Robert Goulet singing "Do You Know the Way To San Jose?" His recording is such a scream, I want to give you a guided tour of my favorite moments.

0:48: There's something vulgar about the way he says, "pumpin' gas."

0:55: I love the lurch that he does at the start of the phrase "there'll be a place where I can stay."

1:05: The entrance of the backup singers always makes me smile.

1:34: He does a groovy little pickup on the lyric, so it becomes, "[a]-Do you know the way to San Jose?"

1:41: The solo trombone is what we call "a lontano" in classical music, as if from a distance.

2:25: He gives us another "[a]-Do" before the song is over.