This must be my week for hearing long-lost standard music: I just walked into the Starbucks on Broadway (the one on 52nd Street had a line three-deep) and on the sound system was Tighten Up by Archie Bell & the Drells. So of course I had to dig up the Yellow Magic Orchestra version of that classic as soon as I got to my desk -- it's playing now as I type.

Japanese gentlemen, stand up please!

Guido played that cover for me back in 1986 and I first thought it was ridiculous; only later did I recognize its magnificence. Lynne waved her arms in a musical panic, screaming: "Turn it off, turn it off! It sounds like gymnastics class!" I especially enjoy the inscrutible Snakeman Show clips interspersed with the music tracks.

Do you understand, Mr. Ohira? Do you understand?

As I drove from Ohio on Sunday I scanned the AM dial and was surprised to hear Summer in the City by Lovin' Spoonful. I turned up the volume and left that station on for a bit. I was next treated to Play That Funky Music by Wild Cherry -- and not that weak-kneed bowdlerized version that was released in the last few years either.

So that kept me awake for a few more miles.