Smithers-Greene

This song sums up how I feel about meeting my life partner, Andy, five years ago this weekend.

The song is “Lucky To Be Me” by Leonard Bernstein from the musical On The Town. The lyrics (edit: by Betty Comden & Adolph Green) are:

I used to think it might be fun to be
Anyone else but me.
I thought that it would be a pleasant surprise
To wake up as a couple of other guys.
But now that I’ve found you,
I’ve changed my point of view,
And now I wouldn’t give a dime to be
Anyone else but me.

What a day,
Fortune smiled and came my way,
Bringing love I never thought I’d see,
I’m so lucky to be me.
What a night,
Suddenly you came in sight,
Looking just the way I’d hoped you’d be,
I’m so lucky to be me.
I am simply thunderstruck
At the change in my luck:
Knew at once I wanted you,
Never dreamed you’d want me, too.
I’m so proud
You chose me from all the crowd,
There’s no other guy I’d rather be,
I could laugh out loud,
I’m so lucky to be me.

A few notes on my performance: I know I have affectations in my singing and acting. I don’t know how to get rid of them. I feel like a parody of myself. And I know my pitch isn’t perfect. This was the 11th take, and there’s only so much time I can spend on this. There are other ways I can show my love for Andy, such as helping to pack for our camping trip this weekend.

I’m not saying this because I’m anticipating anyone’s criticism, and I’m not saying it to fish for compliments. I’m just saying it because it may be what’s holding me back in my performance, and I need to get over it. It’s more important for me to share this song the best I can sing it for now than to wait until I’m perfectly satisfied with it. I’ve been planning to sing this song, recorded it, and share it on the web for weeks now, and I won’t let my imperfection stop me.

I’m usually in on this myself, but it was great to be able to grab our point & shoot and get this little video of Buxley & Lady playing with each other and one of their daddies.

Andy shot this video while we we enjoying our time in Ketchikan, AK on the Alaskan cruise we took in June. Here, he shows the Creek flowing under Creek Street and we have fun discussing the bawdy history of Dolly’s.

Transcription:

Andy: Welcome, everyone. This is Creek Street. This used to be all brothels. And… there were, like, 34 brothels along the creek here. And… this is in downtown Ketchikan, and that was pretty much the way it was until, I think they said, 1934. We do have a light rain falling right now, but in general, it’s just a wonderful day in the neighborhood. And there’s my wonderful husband…
Daniel: Hi!
(The next section of dialogue spoken with a stuffy English accent)
Andy: …in front of Dolly’s. Dolly’s used to be what?
Daniel: Well, Miss Dolly was the proprietress of a house of sporting women.
Andy: Does that mean they liked to play volleyball?
Daniel: It means they liked to play the sort of sports that men like to play, if you catch my drift.
Andy: Like the skin flute?
(Back to regular American accent)
Daniel: Something like that.
Andy: Uh-huh.
Daniel: (laughs)
Andy: (English accent again) Oh, paw-paw, what do you think? Dolly’s is quite interesting!

Andy received a link to this YouTube video this morning, and I was so happy to see it. Our friends who got married last weekend are going to adopt, and Andy and I have talked about it. Here’s to all those kids who have two fathers, and to all those male couples with children! A marvelous Dutch video with English subtitles:

Here’s Buxley play-fighting with Stanley (our friend Mark’s dog) as J.J. sniffs and looks on.