Waking Up Daydreamers

 

    As I have said previously, my father liked to “culture up” his children by playing us selections from his 45s.  His selections were as varied as his records.  Sometimes it would be Jimmy Dean telling us about a hero in the mine; other times it would be Ray Stevens singing about a jungle musician and his girl and monkey. 

                Speaking of Monkees (what a segue that was!), my dad would play us a sweet song about a daydreaming guy singing about his homecoming queen girl.  There was, as usual, a couple lines in there that as a youngster I couldn’t understand:

“Oh, and our good times start to dance

And a follow want to squee;

But how much, baby do we really need?”

It’s a morning song about a man who wakes up and finds himself in a dream world where he has his homecoming queen who thinks of him as her white knight.  He couldn’t be happier, and she should be cheerful because their good times can only get better—they start to dance, after all, and they don’t really need more because they have each other.  Whatever that middle line means, I don’t know, but it’s probably not anything much important.

Pity the child when their idyllic world is shattered by reality.  Come to find out, this is not a sweet song of romance and good times.  Nor is the line “And a follow want to squee” (or whatever that mumble is).  The lyrics are as follows:

“Oh, and our good times start and end

Without dollar one to spend

But how much, baby, do we really need?”

 

It turns out that my interpretation of the song is rather opposite of what I thought.  Things are not going sweetly with Jean, and the man is not anxious to get out of bed.  Apparently daydream believers become middle-aged disillusioned realists when homecoming queens are more materialistic than romantic, and their relationships crumble.  Kind of a downer, actually.

So, wake up, cheer up, and follow want to squee.