My BABEL Theme Song

So at our post-Celery World lunch, Eileen and the Tiny Shriner stared at me until I promised to pick my BABEL theme song. Stephanie Trigg had recently posted about her choice, and she did such a good job of making something out of Madonna's Ray of Light that I despair about my own selection -- especially because my taste in music is remarkable only for its ordinariness.

Not knowing what to elect and yet wanting to live up to my pledge, I decided not to decide -- that is, I decided to allow someone else to decide for me. So I consulted my own Tiny Music Expert, Katherine Eleanor Cohen, who has recently become addicted to the nouveau retro tunes of Pink Martini.

The petite music snob dithered over which of two songs to recommend. She is an ardent fan of Una notte a Napoli, but thought lyrics in Italian might be too pretentious. So she selected the title song Hang on Little Tomato, a phrase of which the Cohen family is so fond that we use it in our vernacular as an all-purpose admonition. Try it yourself: "Hang on little tomato!" when verbally hurled at someone with the proper emphasis really does work magic.