Copacabana Gone Horribly Wrong

There is no denying I am pregnant when I started crying listening to Copacabana today.  I chalked it up to hormones, but maybe it was something else.

Elliot & Sammy's Ami &Papa just came back from a trip to Brazil and brought the girls t-shirts that have sparkles that say Copacabana Rio De Janiero.  The girls like the sparkly bits.   I like the Copacabana bits.

Of course when they put them on this morning they asked me to sing the song again.  They remembered "Lola was a dancer with yellow feathers".

I remember very distinctly being about Elliot's age (??) at my Aunt Linda's house walking into my cousin Tami's room and singing every lyric to Copacabana.  She thought it was fantastic that I could sing it and made a really big deal out of it - so big that when she put me up to perform it in front of the family, I fell mute and refused to sing anything at all or even acknowledge that I had heard the song before.       Man those grown-ups would have loved my rendition of Copacabana, and I still regret not performing it at 4.  But, apparently my memory of this song is only for the fun parts.

I mean, her name was Lola, she was a show girl!   His name was Rico!  He taught the cha cha - they were young and they had each other, who could ask for more?  They were dance teachers at the Copa!  Awesome.  Just like Dirty Dancing!  I remembered there was some small bit about a fight, but it was AT THE COPA!  They fell in Love.  And we love to dance!  Elliot & Sam have been singing the bits we remembered for days.

This morning, I bribed the girls with iTunes:  after they were all ready for school, I'd buy the song and we could dance and learn all the words we have been making up.  Well, let's just say that we can now add "Tony" to the list with Uncle Stephen and Barbaro that makes Elliot melt down with uncontrollable sadness.  And let's just say that mommy should REALLY preview songs before getting our dance party on.

Rico was NOT a dancer.   He wore a diamond.  Tony was the BARTENDER.  Punches were thrown, chairs were thrown, there was a single gunshot.  But who shot who?  I think you know how this one ends. Lola lost her love, Tony, and is now an old drunk wearing her beat up dress sitting at the Copa disco 30 years later missing Tony.  And now, Elliot is crying her way to school about to tell her whole class about it - it is show and tell day after all and she is wearing the bloody Copa t-shirt to remind her.  Samantha is asking me if Tony punched Rico, and I have to find Lola's address today to send her the picture of Tony that Elliot made me draw (instructing me through tears).

And dammit, that song is still really a fun one to dance to, but I think we are going to have to shelve it for a while.  Curse you, Rico!!!

Editor's note:  Barry Manilow won the Grammy for Copacabana song of the year 1976...so I was only 3 when I remember singing it...thought maybe I had one of those time warps and facts would prove I was 8 or something.