From the recording In The Booth - Download
7. In The Booth © 2011 Lorrie Newman Keating (BMI)
This story is a bit longer than most...but it's a good story...
1979: I was at Goodfellow AFB in San Angelo, TX for two training classes, and got a job singing three night/week at a local restaurant. I flew back to California between classes, and the manager hired a guy named Larry Ward to cover my nights. When I returned, I found that the manager also decided to give Larry my Saturday slot. Wasn't happy about that at all - no sir, not one bit! So that next Saturday evening I was sulking in my room, when my best bud Cat suggested that we do the only thing we could do in this situation - go to the restaurant...and heckle the guy! I suddenly felt better and off we went.
We were sitting there, drinks in hand, snide comments ready, waiting for Larry to start. And then he started singing...'Amarillo By Morning'...and all the snide comments just went 'pfft'! Brown hair, blue eyes, and a beautiful voice, all in one package - Cat looked at me and just shook her head (oh, not, not again!!).
Larry and I met that night, started singing together during the rest of the time I was in town, and now we are closing in on 33 years as friends. We stayed in touch during my travels, and met up again when I returned several years later to teach at the same school. We often met up for lunch at a local pharmacy lunchroom - always sitting in the same place, always ordering the same thing - two chocolate shakes, two burgers, and a shared basket of fries. And when Larry would leave me phone messages about our lunches, he always ended them with 'in the booth, in the back, in the corner, in the dark".
I would be lying if I said that I never had 'other thoughts' about Larry and I over the years, but fate had other plans for us - when he was married, I was single; when he was single, I was married (there's your 'two passing ships' reference!). Our relationship is still one of my most treasured, and I will always be happy to meet him 'in the booth'...
Lyrics
In the booth, in the back, in the corner, in the dark -
two chocolate shakes, two burgers, and some fries.
There we’d sit, and talk and laugh – settled deep in conversation
and try to solve the problems in our lives
Then we’d hug and go our separate ways.
Knowing soon, there’d be another day...
In the booth, in the back, in the corner....in the dark.
Now it seems like yesterday since that night when we first met.
I heard your voice, and music joined our lives
Back and forth, through all these years, no matter what our situations
that friendship and the music still survived.
And I knew, on my trips across the sea
when I returned, you’d be waiting there for me…
In the booth, in the back, in the corner....in the dark
30 years have flown on past, and that booth is long since gone.
With miles and time between us, nothing’s changed.
Now it’s dinner once a month, always at the same location
and we laugh at how our lives get rearranged
Two passing ships have nothing to compare,
but I will always see us sitting there…
In the booth, in the back, in the corner....in the dark