Episode 2 of season 2 of Poker Face is called “Last Looks,” and it prominently features the song “Sleepwalk” by Santo & Johnny. I’d recognize that steel guitar anywhere, and I feel like I would even if I didn’t spend so much time in tiki bars. But I never knew the title until this episode.1The episode also features the song “Ring My Bell” by Anita Ward, but if you don’t know the title to that one, you just aren’t listening.
There must be dozens of songs like that, instrumentals that I’ve heard dozens if not hundreds of times, but have no idea of their titles, artists, or the stories behind them. Shazam can rarely hear well enough over the background noise of a bar or restaurant, and with all the talk about “AI” there’s still nothing that will answer the question “what’s that song that goes doot doot doot doot doot?” I’ve made the point of learning a few over the years, which are so ubiquitous that you hear all the time, but everybody just assumes you already know the title: “Caravan,” “Baby Elephant Walk,” and “A Taste of Honey.”
A recent victory, after years of hearing the tune but never being able to associate a title, was when I finally learned that this song is called “Afrikaan Beat” and is by Bert Kaempfert. My hope is that as I’m lying on my death bed, a familiar song comes on in the background, but nobody in the room can place it, and my last words will be “That’s ‘Girl in a Sportscar‘ by Alan Hawkshaw,” and my journey will be complete.