A Musical Moment

by

Eileen Krahn

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The little music shop that I frequent is pleasingly cluttered. You can trade in used music books as well as peruse through a wide selection of up-to-date material. The amiable owner can locate most requests in spite of a formidable pile of music books and sheet music stacked haphazardly near the cash register at the front counter.

I was browsing through a great pile of trade-ins when I heard someone ask Peter, the owner, if he could locate a copy of the old standard, Always. "I know it's here somewhere," replied Peter skeptically, "but there are two versions of this song — one from the seventies and one from the twenties or thirties."

The gentleman firmly replied that he wanted the version by Irving Berlin, so Peter started his search, all the while softly singing the old song to himself as if this would somehow help him locate it in the sea of music surrounding him.

It didn't take long. "Here it is. I knew it was with a lot of other golden oldies," he shouted excitedly as he retrieved the book from the back of a dusty shelf. He deftly turned the pages and there it was, "Always" by Irving Berlin. "I'll be loving you always," sang Peter, the gentleman, and eventually all the customers in the shop.

"I am going to sing this song at my grandson's wedding," the elderly man explained, "but the young pianist has never heard of it."

Too bad for the pianist!