Wait, I did sing, too

Oh, wait. Hold the phone. I did have a singing career, not just close, as I said in my last blog.

Cynthia reminded me after we went to bed. Yep, I did. Just ask George, Paul or … maybe that other guy. Sound familiar now, that group? John, George, Paul and Ringjo?

No, it wasn’t the Beatles. It was the “Sifters!” Ever heard of them?

We actually taped a song together, in a recording booth, no less. Yep, must have been in the late 1980s.

Myself, George (Whitley), Paul (Welitzkin) and Joe (Or Ringjo, Hale). I made that one up, just to throw you off. Ha.

The four of us, a.k.a., the staff of my sports writers from the Longview News-Journal made a day of it in Dallas and Six Flags. We all went together (back when we actually enjoyed being together) to Dallas one time.

We went the by the West End, and thought it would be neat to record a song together, on our way over to Six Flags (the one in Arlington). So, we did. We recorded the one, you know. It starts out like “Oh, the sun beats down …”

Right, that one. “Under the Boardwalk.” You’ve probably heard it before.

Just not by the above mentioned guys. It was the Drifters. We were just pretending. Really, we were. The name “Drifters” probably has some patent, or trademark, on it, so we didn’t want to steal it, for goodness sakes.

Cynthia and I get together occasionally with George and his wife and we still laugh about that day in Dallas.

We (George and I) actually heard the tape by the Sifters, and Cynthia still wonders where it is. I really don’t know, but wherever it is, you can be sure it never made it into circulation.