About three times a week there is man singing and playing his guitar at the Davis Square T station. I believe he is from a former French colony in Africa, because he always sings in French. I’ll have to admit he has a special little song that almost always brings a tear to me eye. He plays it every time I see him too. I don’t know it’s name, but the opening lines go like this.
“I saw my former plumber doing cartwheels in the lake, with her dog upon her head. I found this so inspiring that I went home and ate my car three times.”
I’m pretty sure I’ve got the lyrics right, although my French is not what it used to be. I may be wrong about eating the car three times, but I’m sure I’ve got the rest correct. He keeps repeating mangez, and that means eat, but maybe he means it took three tries to swallow the car. I know it would take me a couple of attempts to get my car down, but like I said, my French is rusty. These subtle and earnest lyrics are especially enhanced by his sublimely screeching and asymmetrical playing style. It is a performance everyone should witness.
And you should hear his covers of “Tiny Dancer” and
“Sheena is a Punk Rocker.” 
2 responses so far ↓
1 jeremiah // Aug 31, 2006 at 5:39 pm
That’s one of my favorite songs!
2 Mark // Aug 31, 2006 at 9:45 pm
Today was the first day he had not been at the Davis T in three business days. I was so relieved. I was quietly reading a book on the train, when it pulled into the Harvard stop. The door opened and I heard, “MANGEZ.” He was just outside the door from me.
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