Brain and Back Checkup

Without warning this morning, a chiropractor and his minions showed up at the office to give complementary neck scans to anyone interested. Despite having a pile of work on my desk, I decided to take part. I think the world of my own chiropractor and have no intention of shifting my business to someone else, but free is free. Besides, I just had an adjustment yesterday and was feeling pretty good in the back department and I was curious to see if their little gizmo would give an accurate reading or would find all manner of horrible things wrong with me that needed their expert attention.

Well, Doubting Thomas that I am, my scan showed me to be in excellent condition, with only one area of concern. That area roughly corresponds to my sinuses and since I woke up with a sinus headache this morning, it was pretty much on target. I sneaked looks at several of my co-worker's scan reports and they were full of cautionary red lines. My lines were mostly clear, green and blue. The sinus area was the only blotch of red on my printout. I guess their little scan machine is on the up and up after all. And I guess my chiropractor is doing his job well, which I pretty much knew already.

Fast forward to this afternoon about 15 minutes before it was time for me to leave the office and one of my co-workers arrived in my door with a puzzle. She was being tormented by a snatch of a song that danced just outside of mental reach and was trying to remember not only the song but also the singer. Her three bull-pen co-workers had been enlisted to help and had come up empty. Since we come from the same general era, she decided to toss the puzzle in my lap and see if I could help.

Her clues were:
The song was bouncy, on the order of Paul McCartney's "Silly Love Songs".
The singer was popular for a few years in the 1970s and then faded from public.
He was about mid-twenties when the song came out, he had curly hair something like Art Garfunkel's but shorter and darker.
She thought he was English.
For some reason she kept thinking the name "Oliver".

My first thought was the singer who went by the name Oliver who sang "Good Morning, Starshine" and "Jean", so I Googled up a picture of him and she said it was not him.

I went through the obvious English singers I could remember from that period - Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdink, the lead from Paul Revere and the Raiders - and while I was casting about in my mind for more names, someone else called in the guess of Roger Daltrey. I Googled a photo of Daltrey, thinking that was probably the answer, but no it was not him.

From somewhere in the dim recesses of my memory all the clues came together and I blurted out the right answer - both the singer and the song. Her face cleared immediately and she said she thought I was right. I Googled again and found a photo and she was pretty sure I was right. I happen to have a copy of the song on CD and will take it in tomorrow and get the verdict.

I'm always amazed when the mind makes these little obscure connections and leads you to the right answer. I guess all those crossword puzzles, trivia games and programming pays off. I'm still keeping senility at bay for now.

LSW

(I considered torturing you, but the answer is Gilbert O'Sullivan and the song was "Alone Again (Naturally)". She at least had the right initial letter in her Oliver clue.)