"I think being a woman is like being Irish." — Iris Murdoch

A couple days ago my daughter's class went on a field trip to the Scooper Bowl, which is an ice-cream fundraiser that's held every year.  This year, it's near where I worked, and her teacher (knowing that) invited me to stop by.  It was fun seeing Emma and her classmates, although I had a little trouble finding her in the crowd.

While I was in line to get in, I heard a band playing.  It turned out to be pre-teens, and they weren't bad, but I was thinking what song is that?  It sounded familiar, but not quite... Then I placed it:  it was The Who's Substitute, which I remember from when I was little.  But it sounded so different... not good different; weird different.  And everything was that way:  they played songs that were old when I was growing up, like a Buddy Holly song, for instance.  But every time it was strange.  Not like they'd made the songs their own, but as if they never really heard them, or maybe didn't understand the words.  They were like nursery rhymes, almost.