Showering with Tony

You have to go all the back to October 20, 2014 to read about a similar experience. Back then, I was at Fordham University in New York City and heard Engelbert Humperdinck in the locker room lamenting about how he was “A Man Without Love” (1966). A member of the cross country team was playing the song, which came so unexpectedly and was such a contrast to the rap music I had been accustomed to hearing that I had to seek out the device and the student playing it (see The Prep Boys).

This week, nearly a decade later and 3,000 miles away, I heard Tony Bennett singing in the locker room at Santa Clara University. I was alone in the room reserved for faculty and staff and heard Bennett through the door. I stopped to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. Sure enough, it was the one and only Anthony Benedetto from Queens. Just as with Engelbert, I quickly located the source of the music (an iPhone) and the student, who was showering. I waited for him to get out and then confirmed that it was, in fact, his music. I think he wondered what this strange guy wanted. You know, in a situation like this you have to be careful.

Once it was apparent that I was interested in the music, he let his guard down and confessed that he liked to play Tony Bennett once in a while. I told him the song, “I Wanna Be Around” (1962), was a classic, part of the Great American Songbook. He hadn’t heard of that before and neither had the guys standing around, listening to us. So I thought of this as an educational moment. Chalk one up for Western civilization. I ended by telling him how impressed I was with his taste in music. He replied with, “Thanks…you know, my grandmother used to listen to it.”

Indeed. Well, I thought, that’s what you get for messing around where you don’t belong. There’s nothing like being slapped in the face by the cold, hard hand of reality. And why not? After all, my sole reason for being in the locker room and working out at the gym is the boxing club. And that’s what happens when you box: you get punched in the face. Think of it as an occupational hazard.

Actually, I don’t mind being counted with grandma. I was six when the song came out, which was the same year as Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” (1962), which I also like. Grandma may have been a few years older than me, but so what? That’s one of the interesting things about age. The more you have of it, the less it matters. Is there really much difference between 60 and 70, assuming you eat broccoli and sweat once in a while?

I also use the sauna at the gym, where I do sweat. Often, if there are no more spots, a student will offer his to me, not that I really need it. But that, combined with the Tony Bennett song, gives me hope for the future. It’s not all cancel culture and Marxist critical theory out there. There is still an appreciation of beauty even in older, less accessible forms. I also have to applaud the student for bucking the “trending” mentality and not conforming to what everyone else is listening to.

As I think about these two examples of unconventional locker room music, something about the nature of beauty stands out. In both cases, I was completely and pleasantly surprised. The last thing I expected to hear was a song from the time of the Kennedy Administration. Yet, when I heard it, I was filled with recognition and joy. It was as if I had gotten a visit from a long-lost friend. Someone from home had come to call.

This sense of surprise, recognition, and home characterizes beauty. And it is not limited to a certain age, generation, or experience. For instance, I doubt that the student who brought Tony Bennett to the showers and I have a lot in common. It’s possible, but I don’t think that’s what makes us appreciate the near-perfect harmony of word and music in the song. Beauty transcends difference.

And wouldn’t you know? I have been singing it all week.

Image feature by Pete Souza, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6066051. Locker room by Raúl Lazcano. Want more? Go to Robert Brancatelli. The Brancatelli Blog is a member of The Free Media Alliance, which promotes “alternatives to software, culture, and hardware monopolies.”