then sarah vaughan came on singing 'i 'm gon na sit right down and write myself a letter ' and that was something else i could relate to since i 'd done just that recently or at least i 'd thought i had up until tonight when something happened to give me cause to rethink my position on that matter so to speak and i sang along with good old sarah soul and right about then i must have achieved escape velocity because in the middle of the second chorus with no lag at all i was puking my guts out while somebody first thumped my back with his palms and then lifted my elbows behind me and put them down and then thumped my back with his palms again .