Tuesday, July 19, 2005

I will be your accident if you will be my ambulance

If you are driving around in your car and feel like crying listen to Lay Lady Lay by Bob Dylan. It sounds like an OLD country western song, but doesn't sound anything like Toby Keith. You can imagine the crusty Dylan slowly riding his horse through a town of tumbleweeds strumming his guitar as he cries out this song:

Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed
Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed
Whatever colors you have in your mind
I'll show them to you and you'll see them shine
Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed
Stay, lady, stay, stay with your man awhile
Until the break of day, let me see you make him smile
His clothes are dirty but his hands are clean
And you're the best thing that he's ever seen
Stay, lady, stay, stay with your man awhile
Why wait any longer for the world to begin
You can have your cake and eat it too
Why wait any longer for the one you love
When he's standing in front of you
Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed
Stay, lady, stay, stay while the night is still ahead
I long to see you in the morning light
I long to reach for you in the night
Stay, lady, stay, stay while the night is still

Just a great song that envokes emotion when you have that long car ride all alone on the New Jersey Turnpike. Music while you are driving alone is like therapy. If you are a secret fan of "Forever in Blue Jeans" by Neil Diamond you can just blast the hell out of it while that SUV cruising next to you is wondering why you are wearing a sequined sportcoat as you trudge along the highway. I worked construction the summer before my freshman year of college, and by the end of the day I was dirty and miserable until I stepped into my teal Cavalier. If you are wondering what kind of car this is just drive by a convent. For some reason this is a poplular vehicle among the Nun community.

ANYWAY when I dusted off my steel toes and took that seashell of a hardhat off I would pop in one of the best tapes EVER : "Bill Withers Greatest Hits". I would immdeiately start blasting Lovely Day, and I would forget about everything. I would forget sweeping. I would forget about eating a dust covered peanut butter sandwich and the dirt that would transfer from my mouth onto the soggy cartons of Iced Tea that I used to demolish. I would forget about my JOB, and that was the most important thing to me at that point in my life. This was a beautiful time for me, and it was all because of a beautiful song. I still don't have a car with a CD player, and I still have this tape. It still gets plenty of burn but it's never the same as it was that summer.

3 comments:

KC said...

lay lady lay

erl said...

that is a great song - have you ever heard it by magnet? listen to it - it's a great cover.

Kat said...

The thing I miss most about living sans car is listening to music, there is something so personal and intimate about music in a car.

I am gonna go check out that song right now.