I've been a little bit down today and didn't think I'd feel like posting, but then I thought about the music-related memories I have of my Dad and realized that writing about them could be a cool way to celebrate his birthday.
My strongest music-related memories with him are associated with the drives our family used to take once or twice a year from San Antonio to Tyler, Texas, to visit both sets of grandparents and often some aunts, uncles and cousins. This drive always took at least six or seven hours, an eternity when you're six, seven, eight years old. There was a distinct routine to these trips: if I'd eaten pancakes at breakfast my motion sickness would guarantee they made a second appearance a short distance down the road, my Mom always brought a pillow with a crisp pillowcase for our miniature schnauzer Heidi to lay on in the front seat with her, and my Dad always commenced the trip by warbling out an enthusiastic rendition of Willie Nelson's "On The Road Again". I don't recall us having many cassette tapes around for these trips - I seem to remember listening to the radio - so he might have done this a cappella, resulting in my brother and I saying "Oh Daaaaad" in response to his utter silliness.
Another song we were somehow guaranteed to hear on these trips - and sing along to - was Eddie Rabbitt's "Drivin' My Life Away". It was a number one hit in the early to mid-80's, so it was never hard to find it on the radio. Not only was this clearly a road trip song, but the lyrics, as I misunderstood them, seemed a miraculously appropriate soundtrack for our drive, especially if we heard it on the second half of the trip and it was raining. Because what I heard Eddie singing was:
"Oh the windshield wipers, flappin' out of Temple
keepin' perfect rhythm with the song on the radio"
As you can see from the map, we drove right through Temple, Texas, to get to Tyler. That Eddie Rabbitt - how did he know?? It wasn't until years later that I realized what Eddie was really singing was: "Oh the windshield wipers, slappin' out a tempo".
One of the best music memories I had with my Dad happened when I fell in love with a song on the radio during one of these trips and didn't know who sang it. I was hugely into unicorns and pegasus(es?) when I was little and would bring stuffed animals on the road trips with me. For some reason, my unicorn and pegasus stuffed animals were really inspired to fly around to this one song. When I told my Dad about this, instead of rolling his eyes and laughing at me (like you probably just did), he sprang into action on a mission to find out who sang the song for me. I remember going into a store or two and standing there with my Dad, trying to explain what I heard to the sales clerks, of course to no avail because my musical vocabulary was rather limited at around five years old.
Quick aside -- whenever we parked the car to go into a store, my dad and I never walked across the parking lot together. No, he always insisted I hold his hand and skip across the parking lot with him. Of course, I loved this.
The mystery of the song was finally solved when we drove the extra bit to Longview, Texas, to visit my Uncle's family. My cousins Julia and Susan were much older than me, probably in their late teens, and totally gorgeous and cool as far as I was concerned. They listened to my plea and instantly knew what the song was: "Time" by the Alan Parsons Project.
Thank you Dad for your enduring silliness, and for always taking my whims, questions and ideas seriously. Thinking of you on your birthday.
Oscar T. (1934-1986)