Song Lyric Sunday: With My Old Man Behind The Wheel

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For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday Jim is giving us another theme suggested by Nancy of the Elephant’s Trunk, aka The Sicilian Storyteller. Remember her from her residency earlier in the year? As I said then, Nancy has a lovely blog so do follow that link if you don’t already know it. This time we are being asked to play a song about parenting, or a child and parent relationship – Jim’s post Quality Time has the details.

There are many songs about this, but for me the obvious way to go was the piece I wrote early in 2023 as a tribute to my Dad, who had recently passed away. I’m giving two of those songs a reprise today, and sharing again some of the memories I wrote about then, starting with one which brings back so much of my childhood for me:

It probably won’t come as a surprise to regular readers that I love this song – as I do with just about everything Marc Cohn has given us. The lyrics tell a story as lovely as the video:

Watched it comin’ up Winslow, down south park boulevardYeah it was looking good from tail to hoodGreat big fins and painted steelMan it looked just like the batmobileWith my old man behind the wheel
 
Well you could hardly even see himIn all of that chromeThe man with the plan and the pocket combBut every night it carried him homeAnd I could hear him sayin’
 
Don’t you gimme no buickSon you must take my wordIf there’s a God in HeavenHe’s got a silver thunderbirdYou can keep your El DoradosAnd the foreign car’s absurdMe I wanna go downIn a silver thunderbird
 
He got up every mornin’ while I was still asleepBut I remember the sound of him shufflin’ aroundRight before the crack of dawnWhen I heard him turn the motor onBut when I got up they were gone
 
Down the road in the rain and snowThe man and his machine would goOh the secrets that old car would knowSometimes I hear him sayin’
 
Don’t you gimme no buickSon you must take my wordIf there’s a God in HeavenHe’s got a silver thunderbirdYou can keep your El DoradosAnd the foreign car’s absurdMe I wanna go downIn a silver thunderbird
 
Down the road in the rain and snowThe man and his machine would goOh the secrets that old car would knowI still hear him sayin’
 
Don’t you gimme no buickSon you must take my wordIf there’s a God up in HeavenHe’s got a silver thunderbirdYou can keep your El DoradosAnd the foreign car’s absurdMe I wanna go downIn a silver thunderbird
 
Me I wanna go downIn a silver thunderbird
 
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Marc Cohn
Silver Thunderbird lyrics © Famous Music Llc
 
An early childhood memory for me was waiting for Dad to come home from work. Our house had a bay window in the lounge, which was an ideal place to keep watch. We didn’t have a car – back in the 1950s few did – but Dad rode his bike to work every day in whatever the British weather threw at him. Although the song is about a car and what it meant to a small boy, this video always reminds me of my own vigils: a little boy having fun with his Dad – you can see why that one means a lot to me, can’t you? Marc Cohn released Silver Thunderbird in February 1991 on his eponymous debut album (US #38 and Platinum, UK #27 and Gold), and it has always felt special for me. The closest I ever got to that was being in the little pannier seat on the back of Dad’s push bike, and then an occasional ride when he brought the office motor scooter when he came home for lunch, but the hosing does bring back memories of being soaked when he turned the water on us while filling up our paddling pool on hot summer days.
 
The second repeat airing from that post is one which I expect others may be playing for today’s theme. No worries – it deserves to be heard as many times as possible:
 

That song was, as I’m sure you know, included on Cat Stevens’ album Tea For The Tillerman, released in November 1970, reaching #20 in the UK (Gold) and #8 in the US (3x Platinum). To celebrate its fiftieth anniversary he re-recorded it, and it came out as Tea For The Tillerman 2 in September 2020, along with several new videos like this one. Second time round it made #4 in the UK, though only #85 in the US.

As we grow up we develop our own views on life. I can recall some discussions with Dad as I was becoming a teenager and exploring the boundaries of our father/son relationship. There have been many songs about the different ways parents and children see their world, but I don’t think anyone has done it better than this. It has been covered many times but none, for me, has got even remotely close to the sensitivity of the original. Luckily Dad and I never had that kind of breakdown in communication or in our relationship, but the song does remind me of a couple of conversations we had when it was clear that he had found someone else and wanted to leave Mum: I recognised the signs, and knew this was coming before Mum did. But it was the right decision for him and, therefore, for the rest of the family: he was with the lady who has been my Stepmum for fifty four years, and they enjoyed the most wonderful relationship. My formative years were shaped by Dad and my birth Mum, who left us in 2008, and I know I was lucky. Others don’t have that same good fortune, and I feel for them.

So that’s me for today. Two very personal song choices, with accompanying reminiscences about why both mean so much to me. Thank you to Jim for giving me the opportunity to play them again, and to Nancy for suggesting this theme. And should you wish to see these words again in the post I wrote for Dad, you can find it here.

See you again for Tuesday Tunes, I hope 🎶

 

 

37 thoughts on “Song Lyric Sunday: With My Old Man Behind The Wheel”

  1. Pingback: October | Take It Easy

  2. The first song was new to me, and I liked it and the video very much. Of course Cat Stevens is a master at storytelling, and this one plus the video is outstanding. Thanks for sharing these and for your memories about you and your Dad, too. 🙂

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    • Thank you, Barbara, for your kind words. I’m happy to have introduced you to that Marc Cohn song, which I’ve always loved, and the video speaks volumes to me. Cat is, simply, Cat (or Yusuf!) and that newish video is a gem.

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  4. Parenting. I never got the chance. Somehow, every woman I ever lived with was not able to have children. (No, I was not sterile, we checked.) Just the wzy things happened.
    But this song, originally from 1965, helped ease the fact I would never be a father…
    (Lyrics are in the blurb)

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  10. Thank you for sharing these stories and songs with us…music resonates for me in so many personal ways – almost helping me remember important moments in time. As I told you, my wife and I saw Billy Joel live on her birthday, we got to hear his incredible mashup of his hit song “You May Be Right” and Led Zeppelin’s classic “Rock ‘n’ Roll” – here’s the clip if you are interested: https://johnrieber.com/2024/10/27/billy-joels-recording-breaking-residency-150-shows-and-an-incredible-music-mashup/

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  11. There seems to be something wrong with my computer screen which is keeping me from seeing what I’m typing. Hang on a sec, let me see what’s going on. Hmm, seems ok. Better check my glasses. Oh, that’s the problem! It’s my eyes; they’re tearing up again, dammit!
    Clive, your beautiful write has touched me in the feels. The combination of your written word and the music you chose is a true delight, heartfelt and poignant. Absolutely stunning songs, both of them! Your childhood and relationship with your dad sounds magical; you were a lucky boy and now a blessed man to have such cherished memories. And we get to reap the benefits of your good fortune with this gorgeous post. Thank you, Clive, for sharing a bit of yourself today. Lovely getting to know you, my man. 😊

    PS: Thank you for the nod; much appreciated. 😉

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    • Thank you, I’m pleased you liked them both. I’m not surprised you didn’t know the first one – it was a single but didn’t do much either in the US or the UK.

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  15. Such a sad song, Father and Son, but at the same time one which many would resonate with, though it thankfully doesn’t reflect my own experiences or indeed your own. It’s really nice that your Dad is still very much in your thoughts.

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