Stories From My Past: Sing Us A Song, You're The Piano Man

This happened about 2-3 years ago, at my old church. I was a member of the Praise Team, playing Bass Guitar. The Praise Team's leader was the guitarist (also lead vocalist), and the longest-tenured member of the band was the Piano Man.

One Sunday morning at rehearsal, there was a discussion about how a particular song was going to end. Leader had one idea, and Piano Man had another. The discussion was simply a discussion - no harsh words or anything. But the opinions were simply not going to meet up, so with a playful little what-are-you-going-to-do-about-it look in his eyes, Piano Man said, "Well, I'm just going to play it this way."

Leader laughed and said, "Oh, I see how it is... the guy with the biggest instrument makes the rules."

I quickly froze, not daring to be the one to point out the double entendre. Laughter broke out in the small rehearsal room, but it wasn't the riotous "What did he just say?!?" sort of laughter I was about to burst with. Nobody else had caught the unintended meaning.

while I was practically shaking in my seat, face turning red, I looked around the room. I saw nothing but innocent faces, laughing at a mildly amusing jab. The Keyboardist, the second Guitarist, the Singers... aha! There was a guy across the room from me, similarly stone-faced, holding in his reaction. He caught the unintended joke! It was the drummer.

Of *course* it was the drummer.

Later, when we were setting up the stage between services, I found myself alone on the stage with the drummer. "Hey", I said, "I'm pretty sure you caught that instrument joke during rehearsal."

He smiled. "Oh, that and more." He picked up a pair of maracas. "You see, I was thinking about the relative size of a piano, a guitar, and then my little toys here..."

Ah, drummers... they keep things interesting. :)