I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not immune from the temptation to sing in public. It often happens when I’m at Fred Meyers. The anti-shoplifting alarm will be booming while a chipper voice overhead is trying to get me to check out the bargains in the Produce section. I’ll be walking through a sea of clothes, glumly wondering how many people died in a Bangladeshi factory-fire to produce them, when Lionel Richie comes onto the store stereo. In an instant I’m letting it rip and I start feeling easy, like Sunday morning.
The Daily Mail recently reported about an incident on an American Airlines flight from LA to New York. Shortly after the plane left the ground, a woman started singing Whitney Houston’s song “I Will Always Love You.” And she didn’t stop. Three hours later the pilot diverted the plane and made an emergency landing in Kansas City. Officers boarded and escorted the woman off the plane.
Where’s the Kevin Costner impersonator when you need him? After three hours of singing I’m sure the woman was exhausted and could barely walk. But one thing is certain — I’ll never view a crying infant on a plane the same way again. Things can always be much, much worse.
The Internet commentariat offered up their theories about why this episode happened: American Idol is to blame; the woman is nuts; she must have been drinking. Here’s what I think happened:
American Airlines (which recently emerged from bankruptcy) just paid a $25 million fine to the FAA for various safety violations. The Whitney impersonator was well aware of this fact. And she saw herself crammed into a narrow seat for six grueling hours with no food on a plane that just might burst into flames. So she started singing to cut through the gloom of a mega-corporate hell-fest.
Just like I do at Fred Meyers.
Gee, I thought I was being simultaneously adventurous and obnoxious singing “Lullaby of Broadway” or “New York, New York” while walking down the street.
The woman on the airplane is a kind of batshit crazy hero. Most of us would just sit there and complain. She actually diverted the plane!
How about if she sang “Another one bites the dust!” from Queen or “Shake Rattle and Roll”. Neither of those songs would be conducive to peaceful flying!
She could always sing “I’ll Fly Away.”
“Easy like Sunday Morning” is such a good song that I could listen to sheep with interstitial lung disease, singing it. That Whitney Houston song, on the other hand, sounds like sheep with interstitial lung disease, learning how to play bagpipes and that is never a good listen!
Oh, the imagery! ROFLMAO!