I am not an avid listener when it comes to country music, but a few C&W songs resonate very well with me when they tell a good story about relationships with old dogs and old vehicles.
In fact, I just learned about this song this past week when I heard it played loudly over a killer sound system on a boat-not in a car, but the song is all about old cars.
In this case the young female singer describes her old 1971 Mustang convertible in all of its quirky and worn-out glory.
The car saw its best years in the early 70s and is now 150,000 miles and many decades past its glory days. It is driven by a young babe who has become very attached to the car, despite its lengthy list of mechanical, electrical and cosmetic issues.
None of these shortcomings bother the girl because the old worn-out Mustang is her pride and joy. She draws to its singular strength in the chorus when she says it has a real good radio, but she is clearly attached to it for other reasons, like time on the road of life.
She has partied with her friends in the Mustang and spent time with her boyfriend in the car. In fact, she has done what every young car guy and girl has ever done in their first cars: built great memories. Those of us who did the same thing during our youthful days in cars can really relate to the song.
The song captured a moment in time for many people and we can see a little or lot of ourselves in its message.
It turns out the song was released about a year ago, but it carries all the trademark characteristics of a Hall of Fame car guy song: an old car with a young driver who has bonded with the car, initially because of the economic reality of an affordable car, and then because the car has become a companion in life adventures and memories to its youthful owner.
Fact is I have met many women who are avowed non-car girls that will still recall their first car with as much fondness as their first romance. Sometimes the car even gets first billing in the memories.
The young singer has chosen to give her old Mustang big billing in her song and she is still young enough to not have to put the car in nostalgic terms quite yet.
That makes her a car girl ahead of her time in life and we at MSCC salute her.
Jim Sutherland
