Euterpe: Muse of Music and Queen of the Road
by Guest Blogger Rachel Goldsworthy
The best part of sitting in the back seat is singing. The bonus for weighing enough to get the front seat is having the CD or tape collection within arm’s reach.Spilling CDs out of the glove box and fumbling them from their cases and into the player only to discover that someone put Big and Rich where Patsy is supposed to be…well, that is a drawback for the driver. Other than that, music on the road is pure pleasure whether I’m heading for a family reunion, a campsite, or hard bleachers in hot sun.
In the summertime, I flash back to the joy of the kids rocking out to We are the Champions on the way home from a baseball game, of belting out Me and Bobby McGee along with Janis on a solo road trip, of my husband trying to find the notes – any notes – of Money for Nothing.
Now that so many of us have iPods and our cars have docks for them, we can assemble special playlists, soundtracks for life that make summertime road trips even better. Miley Cyrus and Queen for the youngsters on tournament weekends. Queen and country for the middle ages any time. Chopin and Van Morrison for romantic getaways. Jann Arden’s Where No One Knows Me and the Ennis Sisters’ It’s Not About You when the trunk and back seat and passenger side are loaded with boxes of dishes, crates of books and plastic bags full of clothes.
It’s fun to flip through the jukebox of my mind or the list on my iPod to come up with the perfect song, and I seem to do it more when the sun’s shining and the roads are dry. Summertime. When the singin’ is easy.I love lip syncing Fred Eaglesmith’s Mighty Big Car when I’m stopped at a light next to a guy in a huge shiny pickup, or Nancy White’s My God My Mom if it’s a minivan loaded with shopping bags and teenagers.
Are there tunes that reach out of the car stereo and make you croon? Please tell me I’m not the only one on the road who can’t resist singing along with Honky Tonk Woman – even when the windows are open.~~~
Rachel Goldsworthy writes underappreciated funny women's fiction. Somebody's going to get it one of these days. You'll find her commentary on life at http://www.rachelgoldsworthy.blogspot.com/
Labels: music, Rachel Goldsworthy, summertime
posted by Lee McKenzie @ 12:05 AM
8 Comments:
Welcome to the posse, Rachel!
I sing to anything from the 80's. Most recently it was Prince's "Little Red Corvette" and The Fixx's "One Thing Leads to another."
Hi Rachel!
I love to sing in the car, even though my children seriously dissuade me. ;-) What I sing depends on my mood. Janis Joplin is great for the open road, as is Tina Turner. Reba McIntyre is another favourite, along with Michael Bolton and Celine Dion. My children are amazed I listened to Queen and are intrigued by my record album collection. Not to listen to in the car, obviously. ;-)
Sheryll
Oh, One Thing Leads to Another – now I'll have that in my head all day!
And Sheryll, Tina Turner, of course. How could I have left her off my list?
And sympathies on the unsympathetic listeners. My rendition of Crazy is already legend. And not in a good way.
I love listening to Arrowsmith - & Beyonce when she's -Sasha-Fierce.
I love choreography and when I'm listening to great tunes, I think about dance moves.
One time on a road trip, a friend and I missed a turn-off to visit a friend, and kept driving for about 100 miles because we were singing at the top of our lungs.
Jodie Esch
Jodie,
What a hoot about missing your exit because you were singing!
Jodie, do you actually DO the dance moves when you're driving?
That would be something to see.
Or maybe not.
I'm not allowed to listen to Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik while I'm driving – it makes me go too fast!
Welcome, Rachel!
About dancing in the car, I had a teacher who highly recommended it. Of course, she got a kick out of the reactions she got from other drivers. :-)
When I first read this, I couldn't think of anything, and then I was listening to Pandora and on came "I Hope You Dance" and "Proud to be an American" and yep I was singing along. I sing to Carpenters, Bread, Three Dog Night, etc. If I know the words, I like to sing along.
Judy, I admire you for singing along when you know the words.
Alas, I often sing along even when I don't. Or maybe that's a good thing – keeps it all unpredictable for the other lucky folks in the car!
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