On Deck

@TrueEarthNow: “We’re idolizing a man who now controls alien populations. That’s not democracy—it’s branding.”

• @MattMarmaduke: Feeling jealous, wait until I decide to drop my next single and see what my idol meter does…

Matt finished the last message and just couldn’t let it go. He saw that, despite the hour, his party was still going on.  He grabbed his dobro and walked out on the deck. 

“Everyone, may I have your attention.  If you are on social media, I need you to livestream this,” he said with a malicious grin, standing there in bare feet and kakis.  “Everyone ready?”

The roar was wonderful.

“Hey @TrueEarthNow put up or shut up in one take,” he said, strumming.

“We were born before the wind
Also younger than the sun
‘Ere the bonnie boat was won
As we sail into the mystic…”

The crowd went wild and had grown a little bit since he started the song. This was going to be a good night, even if it would be a hard morning. “Someone get me a pint!” he called out, but kept riffing.

“Tonight we got bad news about one of our own. Ray Hart was injured, and so was his wife, Janie, who is or was 8 months pregnant. Thanks to the quick action of Kinsey, their daughter, received emergency care. Thanks to the V’ren medical staff Ray will live and keep his leg. Janie and the baby are alright. Even Aaron, their son, who ended up with a broken leg, is doing fine. I won’t say I’m not worried about them, because I am, they are friends, neighbors, family, my people. With Ray and Aaron out of action, we are two harvesters down for the wheat.

With that said, a little earlier today, I got a report that the barley mow was complete. So, in honor of that, we are going to have an audience participation song. Everyone, get yourself a drink,” Matt said, polishing off his first beer and being handed up another one. “The point of this song is to consume,” he laughed, taking a sip and setting it on the deck rail, only to have a V’ren teenager decide to hold it. “Just remember which of those is mine,” he said, laughing and breaking down the rules, and finally, “Good Luck to the Barley Mow.”

“One More Time!”

“Thank you. No, but let’s mellow it out,” he said, polishing off another and started strumming a country line.

I took my love and I took it down
Climbed a mountain then I turned around
And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well the landslide brought me down

“If no one is still streaming, you will want to for this next one. Who is ready for a little Wonderwall?”

Today is gonna be the day
That they’re gonna throw it back to you
By now you should’ve somehow
Realized what you gotta do
I don’t believe that anybody
Feels the way I do, about you now

“Let’s speed it up,” he said draining the half a glass of beer thrust his way and broke into another song rarely done on the dobro.

Para bailar la bamba
Para bailar la bamba se necesita una poca de gracia
Una poca de gracia pa’ mi pa’ ti y arriba y arriba
Ah y arriba y arriba por ti seré, por ti seré, por ti seré

Yo no soy marinero
Yo no soy marinero, soy capitán,
Soy capitán, soy capitán

Bamba bamba
Bamba bamba
Bamba bamba
Bamba

Para bailar la bamba
Para bailar la bamba se necesita una poca de gracia
Una poca de gracia pa’ mi pa’ ti ah y arriba y arriba

“No, that’s not right,” Matt said, taking another long pull of someone’s rum and Coke and tried not to make a face, wondering who was using bad rum at his party and without missing a beat broke into:

Upside, inside out she’s living la vida loca
She’ll push and pull you down, living la vida loca
Her lips are devil-red and her skin’s the color mocha
She will wear you out living la vida loca
Alright!
Living la vida loca
She’s living la vida loca

The party was going great and he was drunk, but not too drunk to sing the song he originally learned it and finished it in Spanish.

“Let’s not forget my pinoys out there. Let’s remember some of my morena girls are now sometimes green. This one is all for you,” he said not daring to touch a tuning knob at this point.

Ug gipanaad ko sa dagat
Nga lat-ason ko ra puhon
Ang kaugmaon nga nagahulat
Nagpahipi lang sa hilom

Matt let the music fade away and saw Angelina in the back smiling, with an exhausted looking Kinsey. He took the last beer handed to him. “Alright, one more and that is it.”

You don’t have to be beautiful
To turn me on
I just need your body, baby
From dusk till dawn
You don’t need experience
To turn me out
You just leave it all up to me
I’ll show you what it’s all about

You don’t have to be rich to be my girl
You don’t have to be cool to rule my world
Ain’t no particular sign I’m more compatible with
I just want your extra time and your KISS