A Tale of Three Janitors

The other day I was listening to Money, by Pink Floyd, which has a guy with a Cockney accent who says, "I certainly was in the right." (Actually, it sounded more like roight.) The DJ, afterwards, mentioned that the guy with the accent was a janitor at Abbey Road Studios where Pink Floyd was recording. They were interviewing employees at the studio for use on the album. The question they had asked the janitor was, "When was the last time you were in a fight, and were you in the right?"

I found that to be an interesting little bit of trivia, especially since I've always wondered about that particular line. What made the DJ's revelation more interesting, though, was a bit of serendipity. Yesterday morning, on the way to the airport, the radio was playing Love is a Battlefield by Pat Benatar. There's a spot during the song where the tune is whistled. I have a fondness for any tune that has whistling, or a good harmonica riff.

The DJ, afterwards, said that the record producer was taking a bathroom break, and overheard a janitor whistling the tune he'd been hearing recorded, and the producer liked it so much he included the janitor's whistling on the record. Funny, isn't it, how little things like that can enhance your project if you're just open to it?

As I was marveling at the contributions of these janitors, I was reminded of a janitor I knew long ago. I had a job servicing Basic 4 mini-computers (Microdata 1600's) for a little place in Woodland Hills, next to the original Cheesecake Factory sandwich shop. The guy who provided our janitorial service was friendly and easy to chat with, and he revealed one day that he had a PhD in nuclear physics, but he made more money running a janitorial service that he would practicing as a physicist.

It's easy to overlook janitors, but where would we be without them?


Blog Tag: Chatter