Internationalists: The Connells

Just received a delicious little anecdote from my former N&O colleague Bob Langford about encountering a bit of Triangle music in a faraway place, and it's too good not to share. That's below; for some background on this particular song's evocative accompanying video, check here...

So there I am in this little place in Prague finishing up a pretty-much-perfect roast duck. Czech Muzak kind of wafts behind the language and the laughter and the clouds of cigarette smoke. It is, in the literal sense of the word, Kafka-esque.

Now, in the few days we've been here, we've discovered that music in Czech restaurants is usually female singers who either sound like Edith Piaf or are Edith Piaf; male singers from the '70s; or this Czech version of the Beach Boys' "Sloop John B," which is the unofficial anthem of Prague the way "Free Bird" is the unofficial anthem of Alabama.

Then, both me and the guy I'm with kind of look at each other with a "is that what I think it is?" look. Four or five bars later, we're sure. In a little bar down a little street in Prague, they're playing, what else, the Connells:

I was your sorry ever after; '74, '75...

Here's where the story goes almost perfect. The guy I'm with -- Art Howard, Broughton High, class of '75-76. So, the Connells are big in former communist countries. Who knew? Maybe more importantly, wonder if ASCAP knows.