Hani Hani

I'd like to explain the title of my blog.  It indirectly has to do with Chris Hani, the South African political activist, and opponent of the apartheid government who was assassinated in 1993.  A year after his death, elections were held that were the first in South Africa without legalized racial segregation.  However, that is for an entirely different post.  The important thing was that a few days after his death, my favorite band, led by Dave Matthews, wrote a song entitled #36, which begins with the words "hani hani, come and dance with me." It is a very popular song, which eventually morphed into the song Everyday. Today, the song is sung as "honey honey, come and dance with me." Now, one of the first times Melissa and I saw DMB live, as this song began to start, everyone in the crowd began singing these words. However, for some reason or another, I was singing "1-800, come and dance with me." I remember looking over at her, and her saying "wait, what are you saying?" It's not that I didn't know the words to the song, but I knew it would make her laugh. Anyways, after that, these words were an inside joke of sorts between the two of us. It was just one of many ways I knew I could make her smile. Below you will find one rendition of the song, but it isn't a live version from a large concert, so you will just have to imagine how it would sound with thousands of people singing the same line over and over for a few minutes.