The car was invented for one singular purpose: to give entire generations of young people a place to find romance.
This basic precept was written in stone until the advent of the Internet and easy access to other young people via social networks like Facebook and Twitter, to name a couple of social media giants.
The reduced importance of the car with a new generation is really kind of tragic-and even harder to figure out- in my humble opinion. You can only take that video romance so far, sooner or later an I-phone can only provide so much love and tenderness, and real human contact is still the ultimate goal in this game for the young and restless.
Let’s assume that a new generation of helicopter parents has not quite completely caved in on every one of their kids’ whims, so cohabitation under Mom and Dad’s roof with their dates is still off the table under house rules. Even modern day Ma and Pa may not allow young love to fly, so we are back to the car concept.
I have little or no idea how the game is played in today’s world, hell-I barely had a handle on the game in my teen-aged years, but I did know that a car was a big piece of the puzzle.
The car, plus the music on the car radio if you managed to get parked somewhere-let’s call it Inspiration Point in honor of the legendary ‘Happy Days’ romance spot from 70s TV. The car radio has provided some very solid young romance song choices over the years, so I would like to pick a few from the ages- before and after my own era of clumsy teenage attempts at romance.
Number Five is ‘(You’re My) Soul and Inspiration’ by the Righteous Brothers. These practitioners of blue-eyed soul made the music over the car radio slow and easy in 1966, but the song likely made many parents very uneasy at the time. No wonder, it is still a durable classic in the romance files. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzB-3Ff5GZM
Number Four is ‘Play Me’ by Neil Diamond. This song just happens to fall into my personal teenaged time frame when it was released in the summer of ’72. Sadly I have no personal reflections about its romantic influence in a parked car at the time, beyond a steadfast belief that I would have used it under the right conditions. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HD6O9patDE
The right conditions would require an 8-track or cassette player in my car, or the right timing to hear the song on late night radio while parked with a girl in my car. I had a car. Everything else was missing.
Number Three is ‘Baby Come to Me’ by Patti Austin and James Ingram from 1983. By then cars had pretty sophisticated sound systems as the after-market sound system gained strength, so tactical parked-car romance likely included custom mix tapes to set the mood. Rest assured that this song would be on the parked-for-romance list for a young audience. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSpwBVdBD6s
Number Two is ‘Let’s Get It On‘ by Marvin Gaye. Only Marvin could get to the point so bluntly and not sound raunchy along the musical road to romance. It helped that he had an amazing set of pipes to present a rock solid case for young romance- even in unsexy sedans- when the song hit car radios in the 70s. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j3okb3kuts
Number One with a bullet is ‘Moondance‘ from the legendary Irish troubadour Van Morrison. This song suggests that a full moon October night is the right time for romance, but the clever mix of piano, bass guitar and wind instruments combine for an anytime- any place-for-romance song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVYHSi3HQNg
Including a parked car, those indeed were the days for car songs.
Jim Sutherland
Car tunes and much more are found here-https://www.mystarcollectorcar.com/
COMMENTS
Gayle: “Dennis your comment and music choice paints an amazing picture”
Bob: “While Van Morrison has been my all time favorite over the years I do believe more romance was initiated listening to Let’s get it on than any other song back in the sexual revolution days. Asking a girl if she wanted to get it on was a heck of a lot easier than asking her if she…”
Dennis: I was raised by a WW2 Army Military Policeman, I didn’t get a lot of time for ‘teenage romance’. This is the song I remember best. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXgzQQ5XsHc&feature=related
