Hi Lili, Hi Lili, Hi Lo – A Song of Distraction

Shortly after we arrived in Tokyo for a three-week vacation, I needed to be seen by a doctor in the central hospital because there was a little blood in my urine.

The Japanese doctor seemed quite competent, but when he threaded a catheter as part of the exam – suffice it to say I felt quite uncomfortable for a minute or two.

As a way to distract myself… I began to hum.

I didn’t hum just anything. I hummed a song I had first heard in 1953, the year that the movie LILI was first released in U. S. theaters. (click here to see a clip of Leslie Caron as a. 16-year-old waif, singing the song.)

The lyrics aren’t as important, but obviously the catchy tune was memorable enough that I have carried it along with me for more than seventy years.

And what a great distraction it was. As I hummed the tune, over and over, I was thinking more about what the doctor was thinking about my humming than I was about what he was doing to me. Isn’t it amazing how humming a little tune can make a frightening situation better.

For the rest of our cruise around Japan the high points for me were both the friendly Japanese people and our day in Busan, South Korea.

We’re back now, but my favorite moment during the entire three weeks was – as usual – walking into my bedroom at home after we returned.

I’ll be seeing a local medical specialist to follow up. Perhaps I’ll hum a happy tune through the exam… Hi Lili, Hi Lili, Hi Lo.

Alan