What'd you say?

Steppin' Out; Tony Bennett

In the summer of 1995, my older sister K. threw off the shackles of employment in order to go back to school for a year. This brought sadness to the rest of the Apland clan as we had come to love the quirky little cottage that she lived in out in the country. But, she had stepped up to the plate, aiming her bat to the northwest toward Grand Forks, North Dakota. So to let her know that we “had her back”, we all arrived in Rochester, Minnesota, in time to see the last box get stashed in the U-Haul. Isn’t that horrible? We can’t help it. Tardiness runs deep in the domesticated Apland veins. We like to joke that our ancestors came over on the Juneflower.

I rode with K. in her truck to North Dakota. She put me in charge of CD’s. I don’t remember any of the other CD’s that I played on my discman. But we definitely listened to Tony Bennett’s “Steppin’ Out”. How do I know that? Because we couldn’t figure out some of the words that he sang on the song “Top Hot, White Tie And Tails”.

I’m puttin’ on my top hat

Tyin’ up my white tie

Brushin’ off my tails

I’m dudin’ up my shirt front

Puttin’ in the shirt studs

Polishin’ my nails

I’m steppin’ out, my dear

To breathe ???????????????

That simply reeks with class

And I trust that you’ll excuse my dust

When I step on the gas……

We listened to that same two seconds of music fifty times over the course of ten miles of Interstate 94 just west of Saint Cloud, Minnesota. We played it loud, we played it soft, we slowed down the truck, we sped up the truck, we rolled down the windows, we stopped in the middle of the phrase, we started in the middle of the phrase … nothing gave us a clue. Every single time it sounded like “in that pig’s ear”.

I’m steppin’ out, my dear

To breathe in that pig’s ear

That simply reeks with class

That’s not the old spit ‘n polish Irving Berlin savoir faire that I remember. Who would have ever thought that “in that pig’s ear” could rhyme with “an atmosphere”?

“Steppin’ Out” was Mr. Bennett’s homage to the refinement, sophistication, sparkle, luster, sheen and shine of Fred Astaire. The album earned Mr. Bennett a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance in 1994. A music video of “Steppin’ Out With My Baby” got some MTV air-time, awakening a young generation to the musical artistry of two masters.

I only know the work of Fred Astaire from one place: He voiced the narrator, the mailman, in the 1970 classic animated Christmas special “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town”. “That’s Entertainment” parts one and two both featured Mr. Astaire, but only in clips. Someday, I will have to watch one of his movies. I don’t have any of his CD’s. But if I did, I bet I would be able to understand the words.

Credits: To Fred Astaire, Mr. One-More-Time. You inspire the urge to “nail it, just give me one for chance.”