On Thursday, November 19, 2009, I made the staggering/questionable decision to take a day trip to the Cincinnati International Airport (for an issue with our Hebron, KY furniture rental business, of course), taking in the 4 1/2 hour drive with plenty of caffeine-24 oz. from Dunkin Donuts, black. Needless to say, the iPod would be #1 BFF as I made the watching-the-paint-dry trip across central Ohio.
For this particular day, I decided to use my "94.7 WCSX" playlist* for classic rock favorites. While the entire morning consisted of 46 songs between 4:35-8:59AM, I will go through the thoughts regarding some of the highlights that one can only have when splitting farm after farm on your right and left, accompanied typically by 18-wheelers (or as some would say, tractor-trailers) in the right lane and, sometimes annoyingly, in front of me in the left lane. At the end of the trip, I was strikingly alert, relaxed, and particularly nostalgic after hearing so many songs that I grew up with. A sample is below:
*When I lived outside of our wonderful state of Michigan, I decided to create three separate playlists on iTunes that would suffice for my lack of hometown radio stations in the cities I was living in. For example, I created "89X" for mid to late 90's alternative rock (and to reminisce about commuting to and from Wayne State University on I-96), "89.1 WEMU" for jazz, and "94.7 WCSX" for classic rock. While I had a harder time getting a Little Caesar's pizza, having a real coney island, and enjoying a lack of congestion on major highways, these playlists certainly helped...1. 4:40AM, "Untitled" by Interpol: OK, this isn't classic rock but it feels like a good album/trip opener to me, so I picked it out before I dove into the playlist
4. 4:58AM, "More Than a Feeling" by Boston: This is classic stuff, though my poor imitation of Brad Delp's tenor (i.e. "I closed my eyes and she slipped away, she slipped awaaaaaaaaayahhhhhhhh!") could not be heard by anyone else on the freeway-good thing.
5. 5:02AM, "Don't Stand So Close to Me" by The Police: More air-drumming than you can shake a Rock Band cheap drum stick at. Stewart Copeland has to be a top-10 drummer in my book.
6. 5:08AM, "Tangled Up in Blue" by Bob Dylan: I like the part when he talks about stopping in at a 'topless place' for a beer and running into his ex, not that I can relate or anything nor do I feel like having a beer before the run rises while driving...
7. 5:13AM, "Owner of a Lonely Heart" by Yes: All I can picture is the terrible special effect in this video where the "owner of a lonely heart" is cornered on the top of a building and jumps off before he turns into a nonchalant hawk. If you see the video, the effect is obviously a blown-up dummy thrown off a tall building-pretty funny.
12. 5:32AM, "Hey Joe" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience: I remember hearing this song on WCSX through the back speakers in our 88 Voyager and getting chills at the age of 11-who would have known?
18. 6:06AM, "Panama" by Van Halen: Easily the fastest I drove during the entire trip, speed limits be damned; Van Halen was a lot more fun when they partied then when they were trying to be serious, led by a guy who has his own line of tequila...
19. 6:13AM, "Running Down a Dream" by Tom Petty and The Hearbreakers: I am thinking of the PASS sports music video for the 1991 Red Wings shown to this song, showing highlights of Tim Cheveldae saves, Bob Probert fights (and a particularly weak goal on Kay Whitmore of Hartford), and plenty of after-goal celebrations.
25. 6:45AM, "White Room" by Cream: One of my Dad's favorite bands and one of their best songs in my mind. On the other hand, these are some of the oddest lyrics for a popular song, referencing the station, windows, tired starlings, and yellow tigers crouched in the jungle. I will remind you this is before Eric Clapton got on the wagon...
27. 6:55AM, "Tiny Dancer" by Elton John: Sorry Elton, I couldn't count the headlights on the highway-maybe next time.
31. 7:12AM, "I'm a Man" by The Spencer Davis Group: 'Lil Stevie Winwood (I am referring to him like he is a friend) sounds great and there has to be at least 5 additional pieces of percussion (like maracas, claves, tambourines, etc) on top of the drums; this is a good jam but I refrain from singing along; the truckers are not Winwood fans...
32. 7:16AM, "Streets of Philadelphia" by Bruce Springsteen: Great song, but I am picturing the great video for it as I drive. Basically, it shows Bruce Springsteen walking through the streets of Philadelphia by himself, showing all kinds of significant and insignificant city landmarks while the sun sets; maybe I should post it for others viewing pleasure.
33. 7:22AM, "Dirty Laundry" by Don Henley: Wow, it is a real stretch for me to say that I like some of Don Henley's solo work given my intense dislike/hatred for The Eagles. This is a good one, though it isn't "The Boys of Summer." Regardless, this sounds 80's without being too Flock of Seagulls 80's...
35. 7:32AM, "The Lemon Song" by Led Zeppelin: Hands down, my favorite Led Zeppelin song, even if they plagiarized some of this from Robert Johnson. This type of song is the reason that someone would sit through either one side of a LP for a 25+ minute version of "Dazed and Confused" or almost three hours of a crappy movie like "The Song Remains the Same" and not even flinch. Still, I will never forget my black Led Zeppelin T-Shirt that I got for my birthday in 8th grade, right before I found my other gift of a drum set in the basement-thanks Mom, Dad, and U Tim!
40. 7:56AM, "Cheap Sunglasses" by ZZ Top: I wouldn't refer to ZZ Top as a guilty pleasure because I can admit how much I like them; this song has some nice boogie to it. Anytime, though 'Give me all your cheesy videos, long beards, furry guitars, and all your hugs and kisses too.'
45. 8:59AM, "19th Nervous Breakdown" by The Rolling Stones: This is after a couple work-related telephone calls, but was a good way to end my trip. To me, this song is quite edgy for the mid-60's, with lines about father "making ceiling wax," a mother who "owes a million dollars tax," and a girl who was "over spoiled with a thousand toys but still... cried all night." Mick is quite nasty here-do you think he was a little jilted by someone?
Alas, my journey was complete and I stepped into a 3+ hour meeting with my head buzzing about growing up with classic rock on the radio and all of the positive memories associated with it. Good thing I didn't have to do any presentations and lose where my head was at...
