𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝘽𝙀𝘼𝙏𝙇𝙀𝙎 𝙄𝙈𝘼𝙂𝙄𝙉𝙀𝙎

𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 • 𝐦𝐜𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐲

era: 1958
name: sally

paul always wanted me to learn some sort of instrument when we were together. he encouraged i sang with him when it was just he and i when watching him practice, but i was too nervous around him. he was generally the "cool" guy everyone wanted to be around. the thought of me singing around the cool guy amused me. no way!

the one song he always made a point to sing around me—or most times, at me—was long tall sally. not only was it my name that tied it all together, but my long, gangly legs. i was almost the same height as paul, something he teased me for.

one day not long after our relationship started, he was practising in his bedroom as i watched and played around with another one of his guitars. moments after i sat down, he began playing the infamous song. he made the song sound just as good, if not better, playing the acoustic with it and singing slower. he smirked, and i knew he knew i thought it was good. i was never really good at hiding my facial expressions at things that stood out to me.

instead of belting out the usual beginning, paul took it slower, almost making it sound like a classic 50's doo-wop song. "enjoying yourself?" he asked between verses. i saw myself in the mirror behind him and realized my mouth was gaping open at him. i closed my mouth and bit my lip while grinning, staring at the boy on the bed in front of me.

paul and i met through his friend john. john was my newspaper boy for quite some time. one day he was humming some little ditty when i came home from school after being suspended for being caught smoking a fag. he saw i had one hanging out of my mouth, hands steadily in search of my father's old lighter i swore i had in my pocket. john saw this and reached into his own pocket, patting around before producing a lighter.

"'ey, silverstone," i didn't even have time to look up before he lit the cigarette in my mouth. and thus, john and i went to the diner a few days later.

i fell under his charm until i saw how he wanted to charm every girl, not just me. i wasn't exactly shocked. that's just john. i politely told him the truth, that i didn't want to be with someone who tries to sell their shtick to every girl with blonde hair and long legs. he understood quickly and didn't take any personal offence. in fact, he guffawed and admitted to it; "i do that, don't i?" we remained acquaintances.

then, paul came along and i fell for him like a ton of bricks. the rest is history. "i am," i answered paul's question he asked not moments before. "why don't you find a new song to play me? that one hasn't really grown on me since you've started singing it to me," i muttered, attempting to play a 'd' chord, but giving up after my fingers started burning.

"because... your name is sally... and... the song has your name... and... your legs are sesquipedalian," he toothily gave a grin. he was right. paul put his guitar down momentarily and came behind me to grab my hands to properly position them. "this has to be one of the easiest chords of all time... e minor,"

he put my middle and ring finger on the wrong strings, but only because he was left-handed and had it backwards. i strummed it with the small pick he gave me, and it sounded awful. i didn't know, so i thought it was just a weird chord.

"hm. no. wrong—oh! silly me! wrong way!" he fixed my fingers, so i strummed once again. it was much better this time. "there you go. now, play up and down repeatedly."

i did the best i could to continually play, but my fingers got tired quickly. "god, paul. i don't know how you do it!" i snickered. "my fingers are all red!"

"don't be a crybaby, sally." with a peck on my lips, i recognized his patronizing tone as only a joke. "well, long tall sally's built pretty sweet, she's got everything uncle john needs," he sang into my ear.

"good thing you saved me from uncle john." i raised a brow as he hugged me from behind.

"would've happened anyway. i'm just that way."

"okay, paul."