The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century

A link on the nerd-friendly social news site Reddit pointed me to entertainment lawyer Jeff Cohen’s page at Global Talent Associates’ site. Readers of a certain age might recall him as the guy who played “Chunk” in the 1985 film The Goonies.

Here’s a then-and-now set of photos of Mr. Cohen:

Here’s a song that celebrates a cornerstone of my personal philosophy as well as yesterday’s shift to daylight saving time, Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think), written in 1948 by Carl Sigman (music) and Herb Magidson (lyrics).

The Guy Lombardo Version (1950)

I’m going to share two versions. The first version [3.0 MB MP3] is the one that popularized the song, the treatment by Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians. Here are the lyrics:

Verse 1

You work and work for years and years, you’re always on the go

You never take a minute off, too busy makin’ dough

Someday, you say, you’ll have your fun, when you’re a millionaire

Imagine all the fun you’ll have in your old rockin’ chair

Chorus

Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think

Enjoy yourself, while you’re still in the pink

The years go by, as quickly as a wink

Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think

Verse 2

You’re gonna take that ocean trip, no matter, come what may

You’ve got your reservations made, but you just can’t get away

Next year for sure, you’ll see the world, you’ll really get around

But how far can you travel when you’re six feet underground?

Verse 3

Your heart of hearts, your dream of dreams, your ravishing brunette

She’s left you and she’s now become somebody else’s pet

Lay down that gun, don’t try, my friend, to reach the great beyond

You’ll have more fun by reaching for a redhead or a blonde

The Specials’ Version (1980)

The second version was the one that ended on on my mix tapes in high school — the ska version [4.2 MB MP3] by The Specials, from their album More Specials. Here are their lyrics:

Verse 1

Hello, I’m Terry, and I’m going to enjoy myself first!

It’s good to be wise when you’re young

‘Cos you can only be young but the once

Enjoy yourself and have lots of fun

So glad and live life longer than you’ve ever done

Chorus

Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think

Enjoy yourself, while you’re still in the pink

The years go by, as quickly as you wink

Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think

Verse 2

Get wisdom, knowledge and understanding

These three, were given free by the maker

Go to school, learn the rules, don’t be no faker

It’s not wise for you to be a foot stool

Here’s a YouTube video of a Specials concert in which they perform Enjoy Yourself:

Todd Snider’s Version (2004)

I don’t have a copy of country artist Todd Snider’s version (from the album East Nashville Skyline), but I do know that he used two out of three of Carl Sigman’s original verses and wrote his own third verse:

Verse 3

You worry when the weather’s cold

You worry when it’s hot

You worry when you’re doing well

You worry when you’re doing not

It’s worry, worry all of the time

You don’t know how to laugh

They’ll think of something funny

When they write your epitaph

Enjoy the tunes, and enjoy yourself! Remember, they’ll be available for a week, after which they’ll vanish.

It’s time to run the official photo of the first Monday of Daylight Saving Time:

What daylight saving time feels like (dramatization).

I assume it’s some kind of art piece:

Photo courtesy of Miss Fipi Lele.

Even at this distance, I can identify the make of accordion — it’s a Titano.

Here’s what I posted on other blogs today.

On the Tucows Blog:

• Some .NET Tucows API Client Code for You to Try. If you’ve been thinking about selling domain names, email service, digital certificates, managed DNS or other Tucows services but couldn’t because there weren’t any C#/.NET code examples, the wait is over.
• Some Ruby Tucows API Client Code for You to Try Some quick example code — the first step towards creating a Rails plug-in or helper that would let you create a site to sell domain names, hosted email or other Tucows services.
• Tucows’ Kim Phelan on the RFP/RFI Process. Our Director of Product Management co-leads a seminar at the Toronto Product Management Association.

On Global Nerdy:

• 11 Confessions of a T-Mobile Sales Rep. A sales rep tells you what to do to get the best deals from T-Mobile.
• “Dude, Where’s My 4 Gigabytes of RAM?” Why, if you have a 32-bit operatin system, buying more than 3 gigs of RAM is a waste.
• Inc.com: “U.S. Workers Hate Their Jobs More Than Ever”. “More than half of all respondents said they dislike their current jobs, compared to less than 40 percent in a similar survey conducted 20 years ago.”
• 5 Signs That It’s Time to Find Another Job. “Those days [the just-after-the-bubble-burst days, when tech jobs were scarce] are gone. High-tech jobs are being created. There are new positions to move into. A lot of people, though, aren’t picking up stakes and moving on. They’re stuck in that head-down mentality and maybe they’re missing the opportunity to find that great next job.”

Here’s a quote from Accordion City city councillor Rob Ford in an article in yesterday’s edition of the Toronto Star:

I can’t support bike lanes. Roads are built for buses, cars, and trucks. My heart bleeds when someone gets killed, but it’s their own fault at the end of the day.

The best summary of the problem with Rob Ford comes from a comment in the blog Raise the Hammer:

Ford is an idiot, there’s no defending that, but he highlights a common problem among City Councilors:

a. he does a great job at meeting his constituent’s needs. A recent Star article highlighted a day with Councilor Ford which found him working 12 hours, and visiting constituent’s homes personally, along with various city staffers, to address their complaints directly. Now that’s service. He is also ethically astute and regularly files the lowest expense reports of all Toronto Councilors. But:

b. he has a complete lack of understanding of how to build and manage a livable city. His ignorance is truly astounding.

The good news is that from this description, there’s hope for this guy — after all, as the saying goes, “Ignorance can be cured, but stupid is forever.”

What we need to do is build up a collection of the benefits of living in a cities with a good mix of pedestrians, bikes and cars, where a significant portion of the population use bicycles to get around.

(And no, I don’t think that Critical Mass is the answer.)

[via Reddit]