WEBVTT

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It is possible to be thankful every moment, every

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day. It is possible to be thankful every moment,

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every day. It takes practice and humility. Hi,

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and welcome to Tell Me What Happened, the podcast

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that features people from all walks of life talking

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about formative childhood experiences. and how

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those experiences have impacted their lives as

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adults. Tell Me What Happened is sponsored by

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Sidelining Publishing, publishers of quality

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books, including Scott Summa's timely work, Don't

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Act Like the President, available on Amazon or

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wherever quality books are sold. Tell Me What

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Happened is also sponsored by laughsaver .com.

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Visit LaughSaver .com and record your laughter.

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LaughSaver .com will keep it for you, now and

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forever. Your family will appreciate it. It's

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free and it's easy to use. That's LaughSaver

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.com. All right, it's time for our interview.

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I have as my guest Scott Summa, author, minister,

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retired teacher. Scott's here to tell us about

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a childhood mentor. someone that you might not

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suspect ordinarily as being someone who might

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be a guy. Are you ready to tell your story, Scott?

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Yes, I am, Jay. All right, I'm going to try to

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get out of the way, Scott, let you tell your

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story. And then at the end, we're going to ask

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you how what you've told us impacts your life

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today. Well, thank you, Jay. I wanted to talk

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about my sixth grade confirmation. Confirmation

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is like the last mass sacrament Catholics receive.

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It's a Catholic bar mitzvah without the hard

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work, the right of initiation into Catholic adulthood.

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You know, when I was in sixth grade, we studied

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our catechism, tended our religion classes, visited

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with the priest to ask questions and to answer

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them. We had to pick a confirmation name. Cardinal

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would come to your parish for this event. You'd

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get special clothes to wear. But most significantly,

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You had to choose someone to be your sponsor.

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Someone who would guide you in the faith. I had

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two uncles that lived nearby. One was a jerk

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and the other was an active alcoholic. I had

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two brothers. One was kicked out of Catholic

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high school and always ditched math. And the

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other was away at college. So I really, I didn't

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have anyone to choose to be my sponsor. My parents

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were pushing me to make a decision. So I finally

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said to them, can I ask my barber? And they were

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a little stunned. And they said, like, why your

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barber? I said, he's the most Christ -like person

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I know. And they said, OK. I first met John Basil

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when I was in fifth grade. He owned Basil's barber

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shop. That's where I'd get my hair cut. But I'd

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also stopped by to see him and just spent some

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time. His barber shop was his theater. And while

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in his barber chair, you were the captive audience

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of one. While cutting my hair, he would break

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out into song. He would do impressions of politicians

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and movie stars. He would tell me jokes. He even

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had a little mouse finger puppet so that when

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he would cut my hair, it would appear magically

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on my shoulder and make me laugh. He would reminisce

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about the past, growing up Italian and serving

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in World War II, talk about his family life.

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He spoke of life and would share insights and

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wisdom with me. Most of all, he'd give me support

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and encouragement. He would tell me how good

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I was and how bright my future was. And he would

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ask me what I thought. And he would truly listen

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to what I had to say. When I asked John to be

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my guide, he was stunned and speechless. His

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response was simply, I'm only a barber. But he

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was so much more for me. And I figured out that

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John was my first mentor. He was different than

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all the other adult males in my life. His identity

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was not tied to his success, his income, or masculinity.

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He was kind, gentle, caring, and extremely humble.

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My friends and I were jocks. We played football,

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baseball, basketball. The personal strength in

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him was important and being tough made you cool.

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And some of my friends would even mock him and

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call him the goofy barber. But I discovered that

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I not only liked him and enjoyed being around

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him, but I came to realize I wanted to be like

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him. We remained close friends for years. I eventually

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stopped getting my haircut from him. but I would

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come by to talk. His shop closed, and then he

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eventually became an assistant in another one

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and eventually retired. In retirement, John would

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go to nursing homes and entertain people. He

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would sing, tell stories, tell jokes, and make

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people laugh. John eventually moved in with one

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of his brothers and eventually slipped into dementia.

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I saw him one more time. He remembered me. We

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smiled, we laughed. I remembered him and I reminded

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him of all that he did for me. How he served

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as a role model and showed me how to be a good

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and caring person. I thanked him for all he did.

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I also recalled with him the confirmation service

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and how we were kneeling at the altar at St.

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Catherine of Alexandria's Church. We were in

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a long line of Confirmandi and their sponsors,

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waiting for Cardinal Cody to come down the row

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and confirm us with a slap on the cheek. And

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there, with John's hand on my shoulder, I looked

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down and saw the little mouse, and I laughed,

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and I was confirmed. John helped shape who I

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am. He inspired me. He served as a reminder throughout

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my life, and even now, to be kind and caring,

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to make time for all and listen to all people,

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especially young ones, to encourage and uplift

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others, to bring a little joy and laughter into

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people's lives. Well, Scott, that's a beautiful

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story. He sounds like a pretty wonderful guy,

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this guy, John Basil. I don't know what kind

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of a barber was he. Was he a good barber? Well,

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you know, I tell you. John's haircuts always

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needed a little extra work. When I'd come home,

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my mother would take out a scissors and just

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fix it here and there. Because the whole time

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he was cutting my hair, we're laughing, he's

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telling me jokes, he's doing impressions. His

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gift was not his cutting. His gift was not shaping

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my hair, it was shaping me. That's great. So

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how do you think he's really, in a real sense,

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how do you feel like he's impacted your life?

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In what way exactly? Could you be precise right

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now? Yeah, you know, I was born in the suburbs

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and I went to a private high school and I was,

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I think, my trajectory was to become a successful

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person in whatever field, but it was definitely,

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I was heading somewhere, you know, and John Basil

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just kind of knocked me off that path and said,

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success and all that's important, but what's

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really important is being a genuine caring, loving

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human being. And this man who made very little

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money, as he would say, I'm just a barber, his

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humility made me want to be like him. You know,

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that's why I picked him to be my confirmation

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guide. He became a mentor and at a very young

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age for me. And so my whole life, I've always

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wanted to be like John Basil. Well, thank you,

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Scott. That was great. I understand you have

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a little John Basil. You saved the little John

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Basil for us. Is that right? Something we can

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hear? I found a tape he made for me that he shared

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some of his thoughts, but where he actually does

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some of his singing and tells some of his jokes.

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So I thank the whole world to hear just a snippet

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of who John Basil was. That's a great idea. You

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know, that really is. So at the end of the show,

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what we're going to do is we're going to listen

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to a little John Basil. So if you could send

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me some of that, we'll put it in the show. You

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got it. Thank you, Jay. I was a joy having you

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on the show. I learned a lot. It was informative.

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It was moving. And you be safe out there and

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try not to hurt anybody, OK? All right. So that's

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our show. I want to thank our guest, Scott Summa,

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for that wonderful story. Thanks also to our

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sponsors, Sidelining Publishing and laughsaver

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.com. I'm going to end this show a little differently

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today. What I'm going to do is we're going to

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end it with a little John Basil music and words

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of wisdom. Until next time, stay safe out there

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and try not to hurt anybody. So the only way

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I could write and let them know was to talk movies

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because they all knew I was a movie pilot. So

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we were going to Morocco and so I wrote, I'm

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going to go see Bing Crosby in the road to Morocco

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soon. And do you know it went through? And that's

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probably why we lost that battle. The Germans

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got a hold of it, maybe. I don't know. Yeah,

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that's one thing about over there. You saw Germans,

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and then you saw French. Yeah, then you saw the

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Italian hey byron gives a reach Don't Domenico,

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huh? but I learned a song in Italy and I there

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was really a tearjerker song it was beautiful

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and This little kid a tagging boy used to come

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over And we were in a tent and he used to look

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at my medical books and being a tagging being

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foreign He turned it upside down. He couldn't

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make out what the anatomy part of the book was

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you know the the skeletons and he was humming

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and I said what is that pretty so then he brought

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me the words to the songs you they had a very

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way nice way of printing they print beautiful

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and to this day everywhere I go people beg me

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not to sing it please don't sing it please please

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don't sing it but I go ahead and sing it I, you

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know, when you get a microphone in there and

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you really think you're Tom Jones or Engelberg,

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Emperor, Perry Cuomo. And the other night we

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went to Falco's at 63rd, all around Whipple and

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somewhere, and I got up and I had to sing this

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song again because it's an Italian restaurant.

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And I learned it in Italian and in English. And

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it goes something like this, but not exactly.

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Mamma, son tanto felice, perchè ritorno da te.

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Lo mia canzone le dice che è più bel giorno per

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me. Mamma, son tanto felice, viva lontano per

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te. Oh, mamma. solo per te la mia canzone vola

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mamma sarai con me o non sarai il più sole quando

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ti voglio bene queste valore d 'amore che ti

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dospira il mio cuore forse non si usava più People

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are wonderful. All over. You gotta give everybody

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a chance in spite of their race, creed, or color

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because you're gonna find out. Well, they're

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good, that's all. They're good. I wouldn't be

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talking to you kids if I didn't think you were

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good.