That'll Be The Day

As we age, our senses dull. On the Monday morning train I set my iPod so that it shuffled the tunes randomly and closed my eyes. The woman sitting across from me tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to turn the volume down. She could hear Barry White through my earbuds (although Ella Fitzgerald didn’t seem to bother her---well, listening to Barry is not as peaceful an experience). As I turned the volume down, I wondered if I was losing my hearing like both my grandfathers, whom the kids had to shout at to make themselves heard.

I wondered idly why certain sounds irritate, while others we ignore. The music from my earphones was much fainter than the train whistle and the clacking of the wheels, yet they bothered the woman. Perhaps mine was the only noise that she could control, or perhaps that peculiar combination of sounds grated, like fingernails on a chalkboard. Why are commuters’ conversations with their seatmates perfectly acceptable, but why do conductors ask cellphone users to speak softly?

They say that memory is the second thing to go. [What’s the first? I don’t remember.] I guess when I forget that old joke that’ll be the day to worry.

That'll Be The Day was uttered three times by John Wayne in the 1957 Western, The Searchers. It inspired the hit song of the same name by Buddy Holly.

Dialogue for this screenshot
Martin [Jeffrey Hunter]: I hope you die!
Ethan Edwards [John Wayne]: That’ll be the day!