We received 169 entries correctly identifying the Fake Ad for Proof Rock personalized love songs on page 31 of the January Observer.
“Shame this isn’t a real ad,” writes Trent Ice. “Maybe I’ll start a new business?”
“While I’m sure their musicians are very talented, I’d much prefer my love to sing it for me themselves,” writes Savannah Van Buren.
This being a college town, of course someone was going to point out that the name of the business is a reference to T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” which, like several other well-known poems, is good. “Proof rock,” writes Diane Cupps. “Brings back memories of Prof Barrow’s class at U-M.” She then quotes:
I grow old … I grow old …
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
And, again, because this is a college town, someone was bound to take Eliot’s work and make it his own. “In the room the women come and go,” writes Bryan Magnuson, “Talking of Ann Arbor Observer-o.”
Our winner was Susan Tarpley. She’s taking her gift certificate to Miss Kim.