You are correct! I meant to mention that in the essay; the first time I heard the song, on THE RARE SINATRA (this would have been about 1984) I myself had to look up the word "flue" in a dictionary.
My "hobby horse" is that Flue is not a bad song at all. An intentionally humorous song, of course. Just as Everything Happens to Me is intentionally humorous. I can't see it leading off the Close to You album, but I definitely think it was worthy of inclusion, and oughtn't have been cut.
Maybe it became obscure because hardly anyone has a working fireplace now- so they would have absolutely no idea what a "flue" is or why it would have a "flaw".
You are correct! I meant to mention that in the essay; the first time I heard the song, on THE RARE SINATRA (this would have been about 1984) I myself had to look up the word "flue" in a dictionary.
My "hobby horse" is that Flue is not a bad song at all. An intentionally humorous song, of course. Just as Everything Happens to Me is intentionally humorous. I can't see it leading off the Close to You album, but I definitely think it was worthy of inclusion, and oughtn't have been cut.
Maybe it became obscure because hardly anyone has a working fireplace now- so they would have absolutely no idea what a "flue" is or why it would have a "flaw".