I’m slowing down in my old age. If I ever had a mind like a steel trap, it grew rusty through the years. So, my “Aha!” moment about Gov. Sarah Palin’s wink during her debate with Sen. Joe Biden didn’t hit me for about 10 days. That’s when I realized a Del Shannon classic that peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard charts about a year before Palin was born could, with a few revised lyrics, fit the former mayor of little Wasilla, Alaska rather nicely.
But by the time I had revised the lyrics, two weeks had passed since the wink. So, I waited to see if Palin might give us another wink during her Saturday Night Live appearance. She didn’t, and my idea was headed to the mental shelf as no longer timely until the story broke about the $150,000 extreme makeover she and her family received from the Republican Party when she joined Sen. John McCain’s presidential ticket. That’s when I realized a revised version of Shannon’s hit has a timeless application to Palin. So, I tweaked the lyrics one more time. And here is the Sarah Palin version of Little Town Flirt - with backup vocalists’ lyrics in parenthesis. (To see Shannon perform the original and get an idea of the beat, just Google “listen to Little Town Flirt” and a YouTube video clip will be your first hit.)
Here she comes (Here she comes)
That little town flirt (Here she comes)
She’s trying to tell us McCain’s not a jerk
Yeah, I know she’s so hard to resist
Cause she’s checking off that neo-con list
But you can get hurt hur-hur-hurt
Yeah, you can get a-hur-hur-hur-hur-hurt
Voting for John (Voting for John)
And his little town flirt
Here she comes (Here she comes)
With a wink of her eye (Here she comes)
Sporting thousands in fashions she didn’t buy
But we know she’s gonna treat us wrong
If we listen to her siren song
Cause you can get hurt hur-hur-hurt
Yeah, you can get a-hur-hur-hur-hur-hurt
Voting for John (Voting for John)
And his little town flirt
She’s a hockey mom
A pit bull with lipstick
Hanging with the Joe Six-packs
Who love the way she takes down a moose
But with the codes Sarah’d cook our goose
That’s when you’d know your vote was an UH-OH
Here she comes (Here she comes)
Just look at that style (Here she comes)
She’s winking at you (Aaaah)
Giving you that smile
But we know she’s gonna treat us wrong
If we listen to her siren song
Cause you can get hurt hur-hur-hurt
Yeah, you can get a-hur-hur-hur-hur-hurt
Voting for John (Voting for John)
And his little town flirt
You betcha better run and hide now
You betcha better pass her by now
You betcha better run away now
YOU BETCHA!