Rock and Roll Roots Used Car Lot-- Part 1

may 30th, Bob Stroud did a whole show based on songs about cars from the 60s and 70s because of the Indy 500 taking place that day and the beginning of the summer vacation season. Bob's comments are first. My comments are shown in parentheses.

The first car I had was one my parents bought for me, a 1963 Rambler station wagon in about the most putrid color imaginable. I received it junior year at college, and that being the rich boys' school at the University of Georgia, it was a bit less than what the rest were driving, but hey, it ran and got me where I wanted to go.

While in high school and the first two years, my brother and I shared a family car. None of this Mommie and Daddy getting a car as soon as I turned 16 as is the usual thing these days.

That is, by burning gas and lots and lots of oil. Generally, I had to put a can in every hundred or so miles, so you could see and smell me a-coming from quite a distance.

It was a southern car and when I transferred to Northern Illinois University for senior year, as soon as the temperature hit 40 degrees, that was it as far as running until the next spring and warmth.

I guess the old Ramblin' Wreck, as I called it, just didn't like the cold.

Every song for three hours had to do with vehicles and Stroud called them by the year the song came out.

RADAR LOVE-- GOLDEN EARING-- '74 model from the Netherlands. (Great song to kick it off. "Got my hands on the wheel.")
SHUT DOWN-- BEACH BOYS-- '62, the main proponents of the car culture in the early 60s. (If it wasn't the surf, it was the asphalt.)

BABY DRIVER-- SIMON & GARFUNKEL-- a 1969 model as a 45 and 1970 on the album the next year. (One of my favorite songs of theirs.)
ROLL ON DOWN THE HIGHWAY-- BACHMAN TURNER OVERDRIVE-- We just got finished with six days of "Rolling" down the highway.

Hear That Highway Sound. --RoadDog


I Wonder: Does the "Alphabet Song" and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" have the same tune?