Island Passage

As you age, you realize that many of your childhood dreams will never come true. You'll never be as strong as Superman, you'll never be as rich as Bill Gates, and you'll never be as clever as Dick Cavett : Years later, as a guest on the Tonight Show, [Johnny] Carson told Cavett that his favorite joke Cavett wrote for him during his days as a writer was the humorous caption to a newspaper photo of Aristotle Onassis looking at the home of Buster Keaton which he was considering purchasing. Cavett wrote: "Aristotle Contemplating the Home of Buster."

I was driving home Thursday night and, while waiting in the ferry line, I found my CD of the movie soundtrack of My Fair Lady in the door bin. I hadn't listened to it for a year or so, so I popped it in and turned up the volume. I can think of no-one who approaches the lyric genius of Alan Jay Lerner (and Oscar Hammerstein [except, perhaps, Howard Ashman ]). I was especially struck by how wonderful were the non-romantic songs in MFL . For example, "I'm and Ordinary Man," in which Higgins is recounts the bliss of bachelorhood: I'm an ordinary man, Who desires nothing more Than an ordinary chance, To live exactly as he likes, And do precisely what he wants... An average man am I, of no eccentric whim, Who likes to live his life, free of strife, doing whatever he thinks is best for him, Well... just an ordinary man... But... Let a woman in your life, And patience hasn't got a chance, She will beg you for advice, your reply will be concise, And she will listen ...