Brother, You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile
A few months ago, I read an article in Real Simple magazine about finding your theme song. The objective is to find the song that truly raises you up when you are down, pumps you up when you need encouragement and helps you celebrate the good times. This is all supposed to be encapsulated in one piece of music. The author provided some examples, including some songs that make me want to scream and poke people's eyes out. "I Will Survive" being the most obvious choice. I fucking hate that song.
Anyway, it didn't take me long to hit upon mine. It's been there for me for years now, and I have a very specific memory of when it became my theme song. I was in Houston during Spring Break for a speech tournament. Must have been 1996. And I was the only person from Tech competing, because I was trying to qualify for the national tournament. So, some of the other teams took me in, and made sure I wasn't lonely. Speech people were always great for that, actually. Very friendly and supportive, even of your greatest competition. Anyway, the team from one of the JuCo's in San Antonio was there, sans coach, and we were hanging out. We were killing time between rounds when some of the girls started singing. We would do that sometimes to warm up our "instruments" ie. our voices. Several of us joined in and we sang the song as loudly as we could, at least four times. I went into my next round energized and in a great mood. I swept the poetry event and took home the 1st place trophy and a qualification for the national tournament.
I hadn't thought about the song in a long time, until I read that article. I immediately pulled out the cd, and spent the next few days singing along in the car. I've included some of the lyrics below. There are several versions, since it's from a musical, and many people have recorded it. I ought to see if I can find a few more versions out on teh intermanets.
Hey, hobo man
Hey, Dapper Dan
You've both got your style
But Brother,
You're never fully dressed
Without a smile!
Your clothes may be Beau Brummelly
They stand out a mile —
But Brother,
You're never fully dressed
Without a smile!
Who cares what they're wearing
On Main Street,
Or Saville Row,
It's what you wear from ear to ear
And not from head to toe
(That matters)
So, Senator,
So, Janitor,
So long for a while
Remember,
You're never fully dressed
Without a smile!
Sing with me!
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