Hump Day

Today is Wednesday, the middle of the week – known as “hump day” to those humans who get up and go to work Monday through Friday. I skipped breakfast today because yesterday, in a moment of gastronomic weakness, I brought home a 12-inch “supreme pizza”. And it was supreme – supremely tasty. I ate half for lunch and when I couldn’t fall asleep last night, I got out of bed and ate the rest: 1800 deliciously cheesy calories.

By lunchtime I decided I had endured enough dietary guilt and ate a chile relleno (pronounced CHILL-lay ray-YAY-noh). I could have roasted my chile relleno, but it’s a lot less trouble to buy a good quality prepared meal like this one. I took the path of least resistance.

I can’t think of chiles rellenos without also thinking of “Better Than Anything”, a great jazz standard written by David “Buck” Wheat and Bill Loughborough. Wheat wrote the music and Loughborough wrote the lyrics. I first heard the song on a Chad Mitchell album I bought in 1972. The name of the album was Love, A Feeling Of. “Better Than Anything” is track one on side one. The next song is “Love (Webster’s Definition Of)” – a quirky little song, the lyrics of which gave the album its title.

“Better Than Anything” has been performed by many artists, and along the way lyrics have been added to it, modified, and subtracted from it. Here is Chad Mitchell’s version:

Better than cream cheese on bagels
Better than honey on bread
Better than champagne and pretzels, breakfast in bed
Better than chile rellenos and chocolate e'clairs
Better than hothouse tomatoes, fresh Bartlett pears
Better than dining a la carte
Or simply gastronomic art
Better than anything except being in love

Better than elephants dancing, clowns on parade
Better than peanuts and popcorn and pink lemonade
Better than rides on the midway and seals blowing horns
Better than men shot from cannons, fresh ears of corn
Better than balancing on wire
Or watching tigers jump through fire
Better than anything except being in love

Better than singing right out loud
Or being spotted in a crowd
Better than anything...
Making a million and being a king
Oil wells and gold mines, catching the ring.
Finding a horseshoe, losing your head
Better than anything thought of, anything said
Better than driving through the park
Or watching fireflies after dark
Better than anything except being in love

The chile relleno was tasty. After lunch I pulled out the old vinyl album, switched on my ancient turntable and amplifier, and plugged in my headphones. I listened to it, then I listened again. It is still a good song.