I've semi-solved a mystery. For a long time I've had this occasional ear worm, complete with partial lyrics, that I couldn't place. I finally semi-sorta remembered where it came from. In 5th grade I was in a "musical". I can't really remember it, but think it was one of those designed-for-elementary-school things. Probably had 3-4 songs, lasted 45 minutes, parents clapped and went home early, that kind of thing. My 5th grade teacher - or one of them, it was one of those team taught classrooms - was very much into music and theater. He did local community theater. And he brought all that to his classroom with some enthusiasm, which I respect. He was also a bit of a god botherer. He requested in front of the room that I say grace before lunch during a class trip. I guess he thought that as long as it wasn't on school grounds it was ok. I declined and said I was an atheist. I was an atheist. I also had no idea how to say grace, because I was, you know, an atheist. Asking me to say grace was like asking me to chant like a Tibetan monk. Equally meaningless to me at that point in my life.
Anyway, back to the mystery. I was in this "musical". I'm not without musical sense/ability, but I don't sing well. Never have, never will. No voice control. But I managed to be enlisted in this small Grease-style boys chorus bit, doing some background for some 50sish song. We put on our little leather jackets and had our hair slicked back with vaseline, because none of the adults involved understood that vaseline took about 30 washings to wash out. I have no memory of what our little play was about, but I finally know where my ear worm came from. Here's what I remember from the lyrics:
You gotta practice deception!
It's the campaigner's tool.
You gotta practice deception!
It's the politician's golden rule.
Age appropriate, it was.
