OLDS '98

My Dad had a 1956 Olds 98 when I was a kid and to this day that car affects my life in ways I would have never guessed. We had 6 kids in the family and so he needed one of those big ass cars in the pre SUV era. To the naked eye this car was sweet. It was a royal blue with white paneling. It had those big tail fins which were very popular amongst the car makers in those days (remember that the memory plays tricks so if the details of the car are sketchy, they belong to a kid who was about 7 and lived in his own little world and are now being recalled by a 53 year old man).

Our family used to love to sing, play guitar and learn proper harmonies in order to perform to friends, family and anyone who might wish to listen whenever the mood took them. The car was a perfect adjunct to that hobby. I had already indicated that the car looked fine but the inner workings offered some fairly critical flaws. The floor boards in the car were riddled with holes and apparently so were the tailpipes and in consequence the exhaust would seep up into the cabin of the car. Now one could imagine that that could be problematic for people of any age so in order to ensure that the affects of carbon monoxide would be minimal we'd drive around with the windows opened. Now during the summer time that was fine and downright enjoyable, but winter in the northeast offered a wholly different perspective. So to try and keep us warm and alive my dad insisted that we sing every where we went. It didn't matter the time of day or indeed night. There would be the entire LeBlanc clan driving around singing at the top of our lungs. "Dinah won't you blow, Dinah won't you blow......" Now as a kid you'd find yourself often looking to nap but if that even looked like a remote possibility in the car my Dad would turn around and start shaking you like the San Andreas fault misbehaving. Simultaneously, he yell "sing god dammit... sing!!!!" You could be delirious from lack of sleep but by god you were going to sing "Row, row, row your boat gently down the SING GOD DAMMIT SING....Merrily, Merrily, Merrily ...."

So when you see me driving down the street to this day I'm singing at the top of my lungs. But worse yet, every time I doze off anywhere I jolt wide awake thinking SING GOD DAMMIT, SING