This morning I got up to go sing for a group of Alzheimer's patients. I've done this sort of thing before but not with this group. What a day. I wake up to find that the City Of Austin has neglected to inform me that my water would be shut-off all day. No shower. No coffee. Angry thirsty cat. OK, No big deal. I buy a gallon at the store and improvise. Still slightly stinky, I hoof it down to  the volunteer thing. As expected, it's group of about fifteen folks, eighty-plus in years with Alzheimers'.
We're singing "Red Sails In The Sunset", "Harvest Moon", "Down In The Valley"-stuff like that. At one point, Joe (who apparently doesn't communcate much at all) blurts out "water!" One of the volunteers gets him a glass. He brushes it aside and repeats his request: "Water!" Now I'm thinking he wants to hear a song with that word in it. So I start "Cool Water" by The Sons Of The Pioneers.

"Each day I face the barren waste
 Without a taste of water, cool water......"
 
I'm laughing inside because that's exactly how I started my day. Out of nowhere I hear someone harmonizing with me. It's Joe. Turns out he used to sing in a barbershop quartet. The old fella can't talk but damn he can still sing harmony.

"Cool.....clear.....water"