Piano Man

So Ben's been (as a side note a lot of times whenever I see him I say, "Where you been Ben?" and he hates it--but it makes us both smile), anyway, Ben's been learning to play Billy Joel's "Piano Man" on the piano. Our piano teacher believes that if Meg and Ben are able to play songs they "like" as well as songs from their books they will WANT to play the piano more. I have seen this method actually work.

Fast forward to last night--Ben and Meg are waiting for us to put Molly down so we can begin our "game night," and I hear Ben playing this song. My heart bursts with happiness, because I didn't ask him to practice. He just decided he wanted to sit down and play unsolicited. As I walk down the stairs and can hear more closely, I hear singing. "It's nine o-clock on a Satuday." "Hey mom," Sam says (he's joined them and saw me walk in) "It really is nine o-clock on a Saturday." "You're right Sam." After everyone realizes how "super cool" this fact is, everyone starts singing again, "It's nine o-clock on a Saturday, The regular crowd shuffles in, there's an old man sitting next to me, makin' love to his tonic and gin." pause, Ben asks, "Mom, what does 'makin' love to his tonic and gin' mean?"

Okay, what to do, what to say, what to do, what to say. . . I finally decided I really can't ignore this (which is what I wanted to do), since I can see Sam going to school and singing this at the top of his lungs and then me getting a call from the teacher, so I decided to tell the truth. This works, right? I did, and they all responded by saying, "Gross mom!"

So I think that Ben picked this song, mostly because he knows that Rusty's favorite artist is in fact the one an only Billy Joel. Note to self: have piano teacher buy music minus the words.