what's basic to some isn't basic to others...

My sister posted something on Facebook asking for help identifying a song. She wrote:

I'm trying to find the name of some music. It was something like second line or second verse or second something. And I think it had the name Avery in it. It is a swingy tune that is popular in New Orleans, and sounds sort of like Rock Around the Clock. Can anyone help me?

As it turns out, she was looking for something called "Joe Avery's Piece," which I haven't ever heard of. Following is a video:

I'm not sure what she was referring to when she wrote about "second line or second verse or second something." Maybe the version she heard had lyrics. At any rate, I can see why she thought of "Rock Around the Clock." There are parts of the melody that are very similar. But all that's neither here nor there.

The reason I am bringing it up is that someone suggested:

Possibly the bouncy pop tune "Henry the Eighth?" It has the lyric 'second verse, same as the first!' and was made popular in the early sixties by either The Monkees or The Turtles.

I read that and almost had a conniption. The Turtles? The Monkees? Everyone knows that I'm Henry VIII, I Am was a pop hit for Herman's Hermits. I'll also note that it was a hit in 1965 (not the early sixties), and that the above suggestion is internally inconsistent since the Monkees weren't even assembled until 1966.

But then my more rational, my more forgiving, side asserts itself. And I remember that what may be obvious to me may not be obvious to someone with a different set of interests.

As I mentioned in a recent post, I hadn't heard of "Trance" as a musical genre before last week. And when, at a Passover Seder, I asked my sister-in-law about it, I referred to it as a new form. She chuckled a little. How would I have reacted if she had laughed. I probably would have joked it away. But part of me would have thought something like "Well who the hell cares?" Similarly, the responder to my sister's post may not care as much about the Monkees, the Turtles, or Herman's Hermits.

Also, I will happily admit to the many gaps in my knowledge of pop music. I know what I know, and not  what I don't. One of the reasons I didn't ultimately pursue a career in music journalism was that I didn't want to have to know all the things one should know in that field. But that's a story for another post.

Before I leave you with a a video of Herman's Hermits doing "...Henry..." I just want to note that I was very pleased that my sister knew it wasn't a Monkees song.