"You have? That's great!" says David.
"Figured what out?" asks Rissa.
"It's 'take-a-chance, take-a-chance, take-a-take-a-chance-chance!"
"Runh?" from Rissa.
His interest now piqued, David stops mid-sandwich prep.
I clarify. "I'm playing ABBA on repeat in the car. I've never been able to sing along with the boys' part for "Take a Chance on Me." So I was listening really hard today and I've got it. And though it seems as if it's 'take-a-chance, take-a-chance, take-a-chance-chance-chance' in actuality it's not 'chance-chance-chance.' There's another syllable in the phrase and only two 'chances'. It's 'take-a-chance, take-a-chance, take-a-take-a-chance-chance'! "
David and Rissa are looking at me like I'm nuts. Disbelieving eyebrows grace David's forehead. "Nu-unh," he says. "It's 'take-a-chance, take-a-chance, chick-a-chick-a-chance-chance.' "
I take a moment to try it out his way. "Yeah, it works rhythmically, but why would it be 'chick-a-chick-a-chance-chance'? There's no 'k' in 'chance'."
David is stymied for a moment. He immediately googles the song.
"It would be if chicken were singing the song," Rissa pipes in.
The sounds of ABBA fill the kitchen. We all close our eyes and listen, tilting our heads to one side, ensuring complete comprehension of syllables. After a couple of verses we turn it off.
"It could be either/or," I say.
"Yeah," says David. "Take-a and chick-a are very similar."
"Don't discount if chickens are singing it," says Rissa.
Thoughts?
No comments:
Post a Comment