A couple of weeks ago I guest-posted on KK’sFlashback Track Friday prompt, and even though she now knows exactly what she is letting herself in for, we have agreed to share the hosting of this prompt. Thanks, KK. Our plan is to post alternate weeks, so this week is my turn to present a track again.

The idea is that the host (she or I) chooses a tune that has been influential to us somehow. For me, that will mean a song that evokes some emotions. From there we create a prompt question, which, if you’d like to take part, can be answered any which way you like. A poem, a short, some music, an image, anything.

Last time out, I went right back to childhood and I have another from that time today:

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If there is just one thing I could go back and say to my younger self, it is that it was okay. That as we grow, so too we find our own places in the world. Relax, it would come.

But at the time, I sure felt like the proverbial square peg.

One of the ways this manifested itself was in the music I listened to. This was the early Eighties, the rest of the world was listening to Madonna or Michael Jackson. I was back in the Sixties, becoming intimate with Simon and Garfunkel. One of my first loves.

And, years later, I will focus on one of their tracks today. The thing which got me about this song was the “fun” aspect – we can hear giggling in the performance itself, but also, the lyrics. When you consider all the ways in which we might describe a giraffe – tall, long-necked, say – yet Simon chooses “insincere”. Or, reactionary zebras. or elephants, kindly but dumb.

The whole song just oozes playfulness.

Written by Paul Simon about a trip to Central Park Zoo, and intended for a zoo scene in The Graduate, it was cut from the movie. Like several other spurned songs, it was then released on S&G’s Bookends album. Later ads, including for the Bronx Zoo and the San Francisco Zoo, only added to its reputation.

What else could my track be except for At the Zoo?

Okay, after that, a straightforward prompt:

Write about a day out.

That’s it. Anyplace, anytime. Real, imagined. It can be at a zoo if you like, or maybe involving animals, but anything goes. I’m assuming that it will be an enjoyable day, but maybe you will surprise me?

FBTF normal rules apply. Please either write a comment under here or write a post of your own. If you write your own, either pingback to this post or leave a link below. And, please tag your post FBTF or #FBTF, so everybody can find it. Anytime over the next week will be good.

And a reminder – content can be anything that floats your boat. Music, image, flash, poetry, it’s up to you.

We are both looking forward to reading your responses.