My father's ringtone

When I was about 11, I "borrowed" a couple of albums from my dad. I say this because I did not return them to him until I was in my 20s -- perhaps my 30s. These albums spoke to me in some way.

One of these albums was Bob James's "Touchdown." It contains the song "Angela." Most of you know it as the theme song to the show, "Taxi." While I have always loved "Taxi," the song has always been "Angela" to me.

A few years ago when the technology was finally in place to use parts of songs as a ringtone, I assigned this song to my dad. Although I would have known it through TV, my love of the song started when he bought the album. (When I did hang out with my dad after my parents's divorce, my dad and I would go out record shopping once a month. And then go home to listen to each of our selections. I listened to his jazz and he got to hear the Fleetwood Mac, Steely Dan, Oingo Boingo, Billy Joel, or whatever else I was into at the time.) The bad thing is that I love the song so much that sometimes I don't want to pick up the phone when he calls. I just want to let the music keep on playing.

It seems that my love of Bob James was inevitable. He is apparently heavily sampled in hip hop. So if I hadn't found him through my fathers -- both my dad and my "dad" love Bob -- I would have found him otherwise.