For decades, people have been tickled and tantalized by Rupert Holmes’ 1979 hit “Escape (The Piña Colada Song),” which spins a yarn about a man who, bored with his long term partner, decides to respond to a personals ad looking for a mate who likes piña coladas. Soon, he’s meeting the new romantic prospect… only to find out it’s his old lady who had posted the ad. A story from 2007 that has recently resurfaced online is a real life Piña Colada Song:

Adnan and Sana Klaric were a young married couple from Zenica, Bosnia. Under the guise of nicknames “Prince of Joy” and “Sweetie,” the couple met in an internet chatroom and began discreetly talking, not knowing they were actually chatting with their partner seated at the other end of the dinner table.

After confiding in each other about their marriage troubles they soon fell in love and decided to meet — only to be given the rude awakening, realizing they had been communicating with each other the whole time.

In “The Piña Colada Song,” the realizing encounter goes down like this:

So I waited with high hopesAnd she walked in the placeI knew her smile in an instantI knew the curve of her face
It was my own lovely ladyAnd she said, “Oh, it’s you”Then we laughed for a momentAnd I said, “I never knew”

“That you like piña coladasAnd gettin’ caught in the rain…”

The couple meet at a bar called O’Malley’s, realize it’s the other, have a laugh, and learn they still had things to discover about the other — ostensibly reviving a drying relationship. It’s the cutest possible resolution to a potential relationship collapsing because of a cheating rendezvous.

The real life version wasn’t so cute. When Prince of Joy and Sweetie realized they were talking to one another, they didn’t share a laugh — they quickly divorced.

“It is still so hard for me to believe that Sweetie, who told me so many sweet things and who understands me, is in fact the woman I am married to, and who never told me such words,” said Adnan, reported News24.

Many in the online crowd don’t like the real life resolution either, preferring the “Piña Colada” version. “Shouldn’t that mean they were meant for each other😂,” noted thereal_papp, a top comment on Instagram.

“Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” was a massive hit, becoming the last No. 1 song on the U.S. charts in the 70s.

But Rupert Holmes is ambivalent toward the song’s success. In an interview with Songfacts, he lamented the song being the only thing he’s recognized for:

“It used to be a source of some discomfort for me in that I was the first person in Broadway history to solely win Tony awards for Best Book and Best Score of a musical that also won Best Musical. I created an Emmy Award-winning television series – Remember WENN. I’ve got a novel out called Where The Truth Lies. Despite all this, people still have a tendency to say, “You’re the guy that sang ‘The Piña Colada Song.'”

I have a feeling that if I saved an entire orphanage from a fire and carried the last child out on my shoulders, as I stood there charred and smoking, they’d say, “Aren’t you the guy who wrote ‘The Piña Colada Song?'”

So do him a favor and check out his other accomplishments…

…and when that’s done, watch him sing his super cute song!!

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