We’re Not In Obscurity Anymore, Toto.

Oh heiligescheisse. (Oh holy sh!t.)

I just heard this Pink Martini song, “Ojala“, probably my favorite one from their entire discography, blasting from the speakers in my local Starbucks.

This little gem of a song, from the album Hey Eugene!, is a little bit of saucy French cabaret, recalling the voluptuous laziness of old dance hall days in Paris, the dust that dancers loosen from the floor filling the air at Moulin de la Galette, Aristide Bruant and Henri de Toulouse Lautrec just hanging around getting drunk. Can’t you hear the rapid-fire chatter and titters of laughter, accompanied by the careless clinking of champagne glasses? How can you not instantly think of Pierre-Auguste and his fuzzy, sweet, champagne-goggled Le Bal du Moulin de la Galette?

What is my problem you ask, with this playing in Starbucks?

Because it’s the pat, throwaway soundtrack to people talking and sitting and not appreciating fully the genius that is Pink Martini and Thomas Lauderdale‘s brilliant songwriting abilities.

Ugh. I will almost go as far as saying I’d prefer it if the only people who knew about it was the small set of diehard Pink Martini fans who know every song and own every album, just so that it can be appreciated properly.

I mean, how dare they just sit there and drink coffee!? 

😛