With them two on jet lag and me on sleep dep, we got along just fine. Lots of lounging, wandering and eating of local foods. And sadly, me running errands, practicing, preparing for comps, etc.
Over some frituur with Eddy and Ren, we ended up discussing cross-continental musical differences regarding the song, "If You're Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands". The Belgians use a slightly different melody than the Americans. After some puzzling, my sister figured out that the Belgian IYHAYKICYH was a rhytmically-square version of "She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain".
The next day, I did some practicing on St Rombouts with sis&dude at the bottom tape recording. As a nod to the previous night, I ended the set with a rousing "She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain".
What I didn't know is that during my time in the tower, a man had somehow gotten himself onto the roof of the Cathedral and was threatening to jump. The police had roped off the area and a crowd was standing by watching. Ignorant of all that was going on, I kept playing and soundtracked the scene with (for Belgian ears) "If You're Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands".
I don't think the jumper had cause to clap his hands.
Was this an inappropriate tune to play?
As we later learned, She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain also has a Belgian equivalent to the same melody. Only the words are as follows: Ik heb een tante uit marokko en ze komt, hiep hoi -- I have an aunt from Morocco and she's coming.
The man who was threatening to jump? Moroccan.
The jury's still out on this one.
(PS No Moroccans were harmed in the production of the blog post)
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