"If you try, you'll find me, where the sky meets the sea..."

I think that Perez Prado and Rosemary Clooney's version of Bali Ha'i is the best. Hands down.

I once sang a solo of this song when I was living on the island of Guam and attending a very small parochial school. The music teacher took a special -- and wholly undeserved -- liking to me one day when I was actually trying to be obnoxious and disruptive (I was in the seventh grade). I was singing at the top of my lungs in a plodding, heavy tone, and laughing with my class chums about it as I went. My teacher, who had the lovely and unusual name of Remy Ngiraingas, pulled me aside after class and said what a nice voice I had and from that point on began giving me soprano solos and alto solos to perform when our chorus had recitals. And I loved every minute of it. I sang Bali Ha'i and Three Little Maids from School and any number of other unlikely tunes. And I was a star on a very small scale. It was nice. Undeserved, but nice.

That's the song I was listening to when I started this entry, by the way. In case it seems that my thoughts are entirely random.