The Lonely Bull

I have been thinking a lot about music and how in my travels there have always been times when I was in a bar when some person or some group were playing tunes on a Friday or Saturday night. Friday after school was usually when the teachers got together and having no one to go home too I usually turned it into a late night with many drinks and supper of awesomely greasy bar snacks.

I can't remember when I first started doing this but often the musicians would call out for requests and of course someone always said 'FREEBIRD' which always got a laugh because it's almost a cliche by this point.

Just to be different and in my own drunken brilliance I thought to call out the song I LEAST expected them to play - 'The Lonely Bull - By Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass'. My father ordered many of those 'Time Life' music collections and that song was on one of those so I knew it well.

One night in Yellowknife in this downstairs bar that made the best cheeseburgers with the waitress that convinced me what wine went best with onion rings, the musician asked for requests and I call out my traditional choice and you wouldn't believe what happened next. Out of her duffel bag she pulls out a trumpet. I thought it was a joke. Then to the note she nailed the song and I have never called out that song again - request fulfilled.