Monday, November 19, 2012

Car Songs

When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time in the car.  The family had a cottage two hours away where we went every weekend in the summer, and one summer, we went all the way out to Wyoming and back.

It was my parents up front, and my sister Ditzy and me in the back.  The other kids were "too old" to do the road trips.  We always had a station wagon.  And Dad always drove like a bat out of hell.

Bored spitless and uncomfortable in the non-air-conditioned back seat, Ditzy and I would sing.  And sing and sing and SIIIIIIIINNNNNNG.

"Almost there ... we're almost there ... a paaaaaaaaradise, paaaaaaaaaaradise for two ... close your eyes ... close your eyes ... CLOOOOOOOOOSE your eyes, 'cause we're almost there ..."

Evidently an old Andy Williams song, although not with those particular lyrics.  I still remember 'em, though.

"Bury my heart, on the lone prairie, and the rest of me, at Wounded Knee ..." yeah.  We were fond of changing the lyrics.

See also:  Every flippin' John Denver song ever, in particular, "Almost Heaven, West Virginia".  I think my Mom would have lost her damn mind if we sang that one more time.

Oh lord, we would sing and sing and crack each other up and sing and sing some more.

"Almost heaven, West Virginia, Blue Ridge mountains, Shenandoah River ... Life is old there, older than the trees,  younger than the mountains, blowin' like the breeze ..."

I still got it.

2 comments:

Becs said...

I did that once with my friend who came to visit me at college. My parents came to see me, too, and as we drove around, Kathy and I kept singing "Delta Dawn".

rockygrace said...

"Delta Dawn, what's that flower you have on? Could it be a faded rose from days gone BYYYYYYYYYYY" Yep. A classic.

Oh, man, "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" was another great car song, if a bit, erm, difficult to sing. The key changes threw us off every time. That never stopped my sister and me, though. We'd just sing LOUDER.