My son and I were listening to music earlier this evening when he made a request: "Sah-sah."
"Sah-sah?"
"Sah-sah."
"Hai Sai Ojisan?" I asked, naming one of his favorite Okinawan tunes.
"No."
"Hai Sai Ojisan?" I asked again, and played the song.
"No. Sah-sah."
"Sah-sah?"
"Yes."
"Cha-cha-cha?" I asked. Omocha no Cha-cha-cha is a gratingly annoying children's song that is popular in Japan, and unfortunately popular with my son, as well.
"No."
I went to his playlist on my iTunes and clicked one song after another, and got an increasingly angry "No!" each time.
"Sah-sah," he insisted.
"Ah! ‘Nada So So!’" I said triumphantly. “Nada So So” is a song by the Trio from Ishigaki-jima called BEGIN. Eoghan often listens to the more popular cover by fellow islander Rimi Natsukawa.
"So So," Eoghan replied.
When I played “Nada So So”, however, he said, "No." It wasn't the song he wanted. Then started saying, "Sah-sah" again.
"Sah-sah?"
"Yes."
As he was growing more and more upset, I racked my brain to come up with the song he wanted and clicked a number of songs: No! No! No!! No!!! Sah-sah! Sah-sah!!
And then it hit me: the song he wanted was "Karabune Doh'i" (唐船どーい), a song I had only recently downloaded and one he had heard only a dozen of times. When the song started to play, Eoghan’s mood changed dramatically: he went from tears of frustration to a big smile and started dancing to the music.
Hooray for Daddy! I even got a kiss from the boy.
"Karabune Doh'i" follows the Orion Beer commercial.