Rock Star by Deb Eileen

My secret talent: inside my car, and only in my car, I am a rock star. There must be something special about the inside of the VW Beetle – the acoustics perhaps, given the car’s pleasingly round shape, but I sound fabulous. Strangely, outside of the car I am incapable of carrying a tune. The car is like a Bermuda Triangle of singing talent.

I start small, joining in for the refrain, humming along. After a few miles I am wailing away into my thumb, just like Celine Dion in Las Vegas. My ass sort of bops and up and down in the seat, in a form of what might loosely be described as dancing. Or a seizure. It is a good thing I am buckled down.

My repertoire is quite vast. I do a mean version of Pat Benatar’s I Love Rock and Roll, Juke Box Hero by Foreigner (air guitar riffs optional), or Paradise City by Guns-n-Roses. However, I also love a good show tune and am currently offering a set of Christmas favorites. On very rare occasions, and I’m not proud to admit this, I’ve done Copacabana.

What can I say? It is the hottest spot north of Havana.

What is your favorite car tune?

13 Replies to “Rock Star by Deb Eileen”

  1. I do this too, mostly when I play The Sound of Music soundtrack. You can get out all sorts of angst with yodelling. My daughter knows every word as well, from having me torture her over the years with my singing. Woe to all who enter my vehicle or may pass when I have the windows down. The shower is great for singing of course. I sound fabulous there. Like you, not so great in the real world. I’ve always sort of sung in private after an old boyfriend–after listening to me sing along to the radio–said, “Do you know that your voice sounds much better in your head than it sounds out of it?” Needless to say, I dumped him long ago!

  2. It depends. If it’s a road trip, then it’s John Cougar Mellancamp, Eurythmics, Pink Floyd, assorted 80’s rock, because I have to compromise with Kevin.

    If it’s local, then it’s whatever I’m in the mood for. Lately we’ve been listening to the Rescue Me soundtrack.

  3. AC/DC’s Back In Black, hands down. Or And She Was by the Talking Heads. Wait, Domino by Van. Okay, I admit it, I sing it ALL, at the top of my lungs. It is not at all unusual for me to lose my voice after a long road trip because I’ve been singing, loudly and badly, the entire time 🙂

    And, Maia, (welcome by the way, love your blog!) that is hilarious. In high school my love interest, while on the phone with me singing some awful Journey song without even realizing I was doing it, said, very seriously and urgently, “Please don’t sing.” 😀 What made it worse was he was a musician. My husband says it to me all the time now…”Please don’t sing.”

    I do anyway.

  4. The somewhat husky-voices of the 70’s female vocalists are still my favorites. Belting out Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” or Carole King’s “Natural Woman” and “You’ve Got a Friend” empower me now as much as they did when I was young, naive and innocent. 🙂

  5. Neil Diamond’s “Coming To America”. And if no one is in the car, I sing along. If someone is in the car I take pity on them and just enjoy the music.

  6. Eileen, I hate for my very first Debutante comment to be critical, but I simply cannot let this stand. I can get into Pat Benatar as much as the next child of the 80s — nonetheless “I Love Rock and Roll” is performed by JOAN. JETT. (I know because it is absolutely one of my favorite car songs — actually I also have been known to rock out to it while doing dishes).

    Other favorites include anything by Billy Joel or Elton John, both of whom I can only tolerate in the car, but then I really let loose (“Yeah, I GUESSSS that’s why the call it the BLLLUUUUUUEEEESSS!”). Oh, and most classic rock. And anything by the B-52s. (Note: it really is unsafe to act out “Rock Lobster” while driving.) Okay, okay, I’m like Kristy. If I’m alone in the car, and not listening to NPR, I am scanning the dial for something cheesy to sing along with.

    Jennifer is going to be tickled pink re: “Copacabana” (don’t tell her I told you, but she knows EVERY WORD and will CORRECT you if you do it wrong!).

  7. Larramie, I love Carole King too. We are obviously hippie children of the seventies. Nothing like singing along to every song on her Tapestry album. Did I just say “album.” Ever find that in the car, people will turn the volume up the minute you start singing? How rude! Thing is, the minute someone else starts singing, my fingers start itching for that volume control, too. Maybe it’s human nature. Thanks for the shout-out Kristy.

  8. We drove from Cape Cod to Toronto last summer and – because I was writing in the voice of a 14-year-old, I forced my family to listen to her music (and mine, he he) the whole way – The Ramones.

  9. It’s true. I am ashamed to admit that I do know every word to Copacabana. Mostly though, I go for the classic rock in the car. But these days, about all I’m allowed to listen to is “Green Eggs and Ham” due to my little passenger who (a) wants to hear stories and (b) can’t stand it when I sing.

  10. Hands down, my fave car tunes are:

    In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins — we used to pound on the dashboard during that major cool drum solo part!

    Paradise by the Dashboard Light — every time I hear it, I scream to anyone within earshot: “They played this at my wedding!” (I do this for ANY song they played at my wedding though.

    Violent Femmes — Why Can’t I Get Just One… well, you know!

    Teenage Wasteland

    Oh, there are so many. Brings back great memories of cruising around in the car looking for hotties back in the day.

  11. Ah, every road trip has a different collection of cool songs. Even the small trips to the grocery store have a different fun song, depending on my mood. The last one to rock my world while running errands – “Moody Blue” CD by Elvis.

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