One of the Biggest Influences on My Life is This (Really)

I first saw this Betty Boop cartoon on TV when I was about 8. (Back then they routinely showed the old Betty Boop and Popeye cartoons in the afternoons.) I sat transfixed. I was always drawn to Betty Boop -- her optimism, openness, her ability to talk to and commandeer inanimate objects and flowers. But the part where Cab Calloway sings "St. James Infirmary" just blew my little mind. You know how sometimes you have an experience or encounter a piece of art where you just feel like "This, THIS is for me. This speaks to me. This IS me." That's how I felt about this song. And almost 40 years later, I still do.