Catchy Songs in Senegal

What is it about jingles that get stuck in your brain?

If anyone says, “Ay,ay,ay,ay”, I immediately think of the politically incorrect Frito Bandito song.

And if they say, “Gimme a break, gimmie a break….” Suddenly I want a Kit Kat bar.

And Disney has some really catchy ones too: Cruella De Vil, I Wan’na Be Like You, and Under the Sea. It seems that a whole generation can sing those songs word for word. And if anyone starts even a bit of it, the whole thing runs through your mind.

I was on a boat in Senegal with about six other Americans and we passed a small resort named Akuna Matata. Our Senegalese friend told us that it is a Swahili phrase. He actually said, “It means,”- and then he paused.

I know exactly the words that were passing through the minds of each and every one of us. “It means no worries for the rest of your days. It’s a problem free philosophy.”

But we were silent. Because we didn’t want to interrupt our friend. And we were all probably aware that it would be strange to burst into song on the boat at that moment.

He explained that it was a phrase meaning a very relaxed lifestyle, one in which a person is free of concerns.

One of our number then asked, “Have you ever heard of a movie called The Lion King?”

No, he had not.

We’re better off without all those things in our brain. The trip was good. I was lovin’ it… not MacDonald’s, but Senegal. The best part of wakin’ up was …not Folgers, but, some nice tea and chocolate.  NationWide wasn’t on my side, but some good friends were.

Also, the one thing I bought for myself in Senegal: a bracelet, which I found out was made of warthog tusk.

“When I was a young warthog!”

Unanswerable Library Questions

Anyone who has worked in a library has dealt with this scenario: “I’m looking for a book I read last year. It was blue. Can you help me?”

Google fails here.

I have had other questions posed that are equally difficult.

Today someone asked me, “Can you help me find a book? It was the 4^th in a series.” I asked if she perhaps knew the name of the author or the name of any other book in the series. She did not. She showed me the general area of the library where she had seen the book.

She really thought I should be able to come up with the title for her. I explained, very politely, that I did not think I could help her.

I hope she did not fill out a complaint card…

Recently I got a call which started out, “I was in your library in 1988 and you had this book…”

That was 30 years ago! Turns out we had a newer edition of the book she had in mind. But she wanted the old edition.

Best of all was a man who came in and asked one of the librarians to show him where Middle Earth was in an atlas. The librarian tried to explain that Tolkien’s world was fiction and that Middle Earth would not appear on any world atlas. There were maps that Tolkien made of his world, if they would help.

This would not do. He wanted to find Middle Earth on a world atlas. He wouldn’t give up and there was a lengthy discussion. He left grumbling.

(I asked later if he happened to be unusually short and have large, hairy feet?)

We really do try to find what people are looking for. And google can help lots of times. It’s amazing. But there are unanswerable questions.

So if you come in looking for a blue book, 4^th in the series that we had in 1988. I may suggest that you try the Middle Earth Public Library. I’m sure they could help you.