Mrs Sensible, Peggy Sue and Billy Brown

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My singing has the ability to make Mrs Sensible weep; she becomes very emotional as I attempt to sing in tune, my spectacular warbling ability and the way I drift from one note to another has often left her in tears of anguish.

This morning I awoke to a glorious sunny day rainy overcast day, as I stepped into the shower, the hit song Peggy Sue by Buddy Holly just floated into my mind and I started to sing, not just sing but with amazing gusto.

Peggy Sue image Wiki

Peggy Sue  image Wiki

Meanwhile Mrs S was in the bathroom on the top floor probably crying into her face cloth and trying to drown out my singing. I don’t know if you remember Peggy Sue, but the lyrics go something like this.

♪, ♫ Peggy Sue Peggy Sue, Peggy Peggy Peggy Peggy Peggy Sue ♪, ♫

Oooh hooo Peggy, ♪, ♫ my Peggy Sue  ooo hoo hoo ooooo.♪, ♫

This above is repeated as many times as you like, however it is advisable to stop when Mrs S starts to brandish her wet wooden spoon.

Let’s quickly back track to ten years ago, when  Mrs Sensible took me to her church in Sicily. While I was finding a parking space for her car, she had found a space in the front pew with her friends, as she told them her news from England, I was left to find a place to sit by myself further back in the church. Part way through the service the congregation stood to sing a hymn, I naturally stood with them and as they started to sing I hummed along with them. It was at this point that a kind gentleman, who was stood behind me, passed me his Italian hymn book.

I have been known to empty churches with my singing

I have been known to empty churches with my singing

Now please try to picture the scene, I am completely tone-deaf and at that point in my life, my Italian language skills had reached the dizzying heights of Si, Non, Grazie and Ciao. But in for a penny in for a pound, I sang with Gusto. I felt completely uplifted and at one with the rest of the congregation.  It was only when three young girls who were sitting in the pew in front, turned around with looks of complete astonishment and amusement that I realised that I had completely murdered the hymn. However I gamely sang on, swapping to the English version of the hymn when I knew I had no chance at pronouncing the words in the Hymn book. It is a lucky thing that forgiveness plays a large part of the Christian faith.

I knew from the look of shock

I knew from the look of shock, that my singing needed a little improvement.

Back to this morning, as I drove Mrs S to work, once again the song Peggy Sue entered my mind and there is nothing more satisfying than driving down winding Italian country roads, singing your favourite song with the love of your life sat next to you, even if she does have her fingers in her ears.

Mrs Sensible told me, that while she was in the bathroom, my singing had reminded her of another song, but by the Beatles, alas she couldn’t remember how the song went.  I immediately burst into an impromptu melody of Beatles songs and even added a verse or two from Oh Billy Brown by Mika. None of this helped to stir Mrs Sensible’s memory.

After dropping Mrs Sensible at her school where she is teaching her chilblains English and how not to pick their noses while in her class,  I drove off to  my office situated at the Bar in Fubine, After I booted my laptop I quickly googled Peggy and Beatles, amazingly Paul Mc Cartney did a cover version of Peggy Sue. This surely must be the song Mrs S was thinking about. As I drink my cappuccino I can only wonder why my cover version of Peggy Sue didn’t jog her memory.

If you too can’t hold a tune, this link may help you

On the 13th of this month I will upload a valentines post, Entitled Mrs Sensible and the Pizza oven, this is part of the joint blogging posts with the C.O.S.I group and if I get time I will also upload the latest installment on the Telecom Italia fiasco.

49 thoughts on “Mrs Sensible, Peggy Sue and Billy Brown”

  2. From your words ‘my office situated at the Bar in Fubine’, I understood that the Telecom saga was still ongoing… Do you think they are building the connections from scratch, i.e. going through the process of inventing it and then doing a DIY job on the cabling?

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  6. Ok so your post has now created a train full of humming New Yorkers who are following my lead in a rendition of Peggy Sue… The original, not the Paul McCartney cover! Who knew!
    As always, your post had me in stitches…and I give you kudos for singing to your heart’s content, no matter what onlookers may say!
    Ps: I recently had Peaches & Herb’s 70’s hit stuck in my head

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  8. I sing a lot too, and my kids tell me to shut up because I’m wrecking the music they’re listening to. Dancing along with it is even better, particularly when I’m wearing my earphones. My favourite is “Fever” by Peggy Lee.
    I’m afraid I don’t sing in church – the rare times I’ve been there (weddings and funerals) aren’t really appropriate for the only gyms I know -“those in peril on the sea” (my favourite hymn at school) and “all things bright and beautiful”.

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  10. Pecora, you are a scream a minute. Really. I hope you keep Mrs S. in stitches when you’ll are together. If you are half as funny at home as you are in your blog that says a lot about you. What it says, I’ve no idea. 🙂

    I am quite familiar with Buddy Holly. After all he was a fellow Texan. Sadly, he met his demise in a plane crash. He died way too young. Peggy Sue was quite popular for guys with poor memories, I’m referring to the record, of course.

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  11. I’ve missed you sooooooooooo much! I came close to emailing you a “What’s up” but here you are your usual charming, entertaining self.
    I have an ad someone cut out of a magazine and gave me. It’s an ad for cat food with a lovely picture of a black and white cat. The caption says “has heard you sing and has never laughed”. The story of my life. I dance fairly well though and someone told me with proper training I could probably carry a tune as I’m not actually tone deaf. Ah well, I’m putting my time into learning Italian with the hopes of living there sometime in the not too distant future. Four years isn’t that far away.
    Good to have you back blogging!
    Oh, I have lots of emails that came in overnight but I was so excited I read this first!
    Michelle

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    • Please please please e mail…… It would be nice to receive an E mail that isnt from somebody trying to sell me viagra, surgical trusses or SEO improvment !!! By the way, what in heavens name is SEO??

      I am impressed you dance well and can hold a tune, I have dyslexic legs, I am the only person I know who can stand on his own toes when dancing…

      Four years will go in a flash, let me know when you are next over,

      All the best PN

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  13. Oh, PN, tell Mrs. Sensible that she is actually very fortunate!

    We made the fatal mistake of gifting our lovely downstairs neighbor a CD of Barry White’s Greatest Hits a couple of years ago!!!!!!!! Yes, he of the sultry voice, amorous sound effects and somewhat racy lyrics….. his singing drives women crazy, supposedly!

    Now, after her weekly lunch dates with friends, they all pile into her apartment for Prosecco and dancing and guess what they ALWAYS crank up at top volume?! So much so, that our terrazzo floor positively vibrates! If you’ve ever heard a gaggle of 75 year old Italian women attempting a karaoke impersonation of Barry White, complete with, ummm, sound effects………. Mamma mia! It’s quite disturbing!!!!!!!!

    So, I don’t think Mrs. S. has reason to complain too much; she can always come and spend a Tuesday afternoon here, only to then realize what a unique gem she has in you!

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    • I will pass this on to Mrs S, I have always tried to explain how fortunate she is to have me. 😉 Somehow she always find a chink in my argument.

      Maybe, rather than sending Mrs S to sit with you, I could come instead and teach the gaggle of old Italians how to sing My Peggy Sue.

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  17. I was idly checking my stats page today, and saw that someone obviously wanted to find my reblog of one of your posts . The search term was “sensible nude”, which would have taken some fanatic to the Pecora Nera, Mrs Sensible and a nude selfie, way back in November, 2013.

    Old blogs never die …

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    • I find the stats interesting, I get a lot of visitors looking for Italian nude selfie, or nude Mrs Sensible. I hope they are not too disappointed in the post when they finally find it. On that note I am a little disappointed that the search term “Pecora Nera in the nude with a glass of wine in his hand” has never been used….

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    • I might give the Duck song a pass.. I did teach Mrs S “I am the music man and come from far away” so she could teach her chilblains during the English Lesson. That took a day or two to shake from my head.

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  19. I just had to look up this song to see why Mrs Sensible’s ears felt harassed. I now understand her anguish after listening to the song – I think it requires a certain kind of voice that the common person is not gifted with.

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