roy in the sunshine

I can't believe it! I can't believe I've waited this long! I can't believe I've waited this long to get a CD player for my car!! I've resisted and mumbled excuses, fixing the car, buffing the car, spoiling this 15 year old brat like a 15 year old brat. 250K clicks and still runs fine. But until today it only had the original Honda stereo system with decent speakers and a cassette player. So, finally, this morning I took it the car audio people round the corner - Belrose Car Audio (when they get a webiste, I'll publish it here because they're great) - and for much less than I had recently paid for minor brake work, they put a spanking new Alpine system in my dashboard. The operation was painless and took all of 25 minutes. I passed my time pleasantly, reading the Toronto Sun's coverage of our new Minister of Social Development, Belinda Stronach, a.k.a. B.S.

I paid up, hopped into my car and slipped in a CD. It was one of my own CD's so I didn't get too, too excited. But then I ran home, grabbed a Roy Orbison compilation (well, I also grabbed jazz favourites Stan Getz, Chet Baker and Kenny Burrell in case you're wondering whether I'd parked my jazz snobbery at the door!) and ran back down to the car.



All I can say is this: if you haven't experienced a gorgoeus, sunny spring day, driving with the sunroof open and "Only The Lonely" blasting on your speakers - you haven't lived. I was able to hum along to OTL but when "Walk On" came on (get the hankies ready), I cried. I mean, come on:

Walk on, don't turn around
Walk on, to higher ground
Take the love we shared together
Keep it in your heart forever
Don't forget me
Oh baby walk on....

(and now THE KICKER!)

If you ever loved me, baby, WALK ON

The last words sung in Roy's signature operatic high tenor, punctuated by the equally characteristic
ba-ba-ba-bum of tympani and strings. The amazing thing about Roy Orbison's ballads is that they have pathos but are never pathetic. No matter how seemingly overblown the arrangement, Roy's keening voice and heart-torn pleas always ring true. If you listen at full volume, with sunroof open, digging every single db out of your new system....I gotta tell you, it's pretty blissful.

Even made me forget about our political bombshell from yesterday. Belinda Stronach and the screwy machinations of the Liberal Party are but insignificant ephemera. Sunny days in the spring and Roy Orbison on a new car CD player are what the good stuff is made of.