I was driving in to work Monday morning and doing what I sometimes do at 5:20 am: switching between channels on my satellite radio system.

Normally, the fifteen minute commute along the highway known as Route 22 near my home is laden with the sounds of Smooth Jazz echoing through the cabin of my 2022 Ford Bronco Sport.

I know, shocking.

You’d probably expect a metal-head like me to have Hair Nation turned up to ten at all times. But I’ve come to realize that whether it’s because I’ve started to open myself up to small changes in musical taste or just the fact that I’m getting old (I prefer the former); listening to smooth jazz in the morning relaxes me and helps me face the day.

But on this particular Monday it just wasn’t cutting it. So I started switching the dial around to find something different and eventually stumbled upon the 70’s on 7 station. That was when a tune came on that I hadn’t heard on a car radio in more almost 40 years. Hearing that song again not only brought back some good memories but also gave me the ammunition I needed for today’s post.

What I’ve done is compiled together a list of the Top 4 songs I remember most listening to on the car radio. The caveat of this list is, all of these songs were on occasions when I was riding in the back seat while my parents drove.

You may find some of these choices a bit strange but these songs, when played on the car stereo at a particular moment in time, placed a permanent bookmark in my memory bank. Memories that still to this day stick with me whenever I hear them.

So here you go – The Top 4 Songs I Remember from Car Drives.

4. Lido Shuffle (Boz Scaggs) – 1977

This was the song that came on the radio on my drive into work this morning. I still have never taken the time to figure out the lyrics but what I do know is that hearing this song still takes me back to 1977 and those drives in my Dad’s Malibu Classic. It didn’t even really matter where we were going or if I was riding in the back seat or had the honor of riding shotgun next to him.

I can still picture my dad, sitting in the driver’s side with his white t-shirt and dungarees. The windows are down and the wind is blowing the sweet smell of summer honeysuckle into the car’s cabin. Thinking about it again now (much like I did on the drive in to work), I can still taste the innocence of childhood.

3. Happy Days Theme – 1976

This one may shock you but considering my fascination with the power of The Fonz it was inevitable that I was going to like this theme song. This song was recorded in 1976 and actually charted at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and received quite a bit of radio play.

There was this little fishing spot up along Bushkill Drive that our family used to take excursions to on summer weekends. My parents always referred to it as ‘The Creek.” I remember sitting in the back seat next to a half-dozen or so fishing poles when this song just happened to come on the radio one day while we were pulling in. I’ll never forget begging my parents not to turn off the ignition and for us all to just sit and listen to the radio until the song was over. Fortunately they complied or else I might have thrown a hissy fit.

Speaking of hissy fit…..

2. Bad, Bad Leroy Brown (Jim Croce) – 1973

It was sometime in the mid-70’s when Dad took me and my brother on our first overnight camping trip with a bunch of people to Camp Hugh Beaver in his 1965 Mustang. I remember this because I was  extremely excited about going camping, that is until we arrived. From then on, I immediately wanted to go home for a reason that to this day still eludes me.

I remember voicing my opinion for home very loudly, and eventually through tears. My dad would ignore my pleas and made us stay there that first night, but once the sun came up I was back at it again; crying and wanting to go home. Eventually, he gave in to my demands and we all packed up early and headed home.

Why do I remember this, you ask? Because on the drive home the song “Bad Bad Leroy Brown” came on the car radio. In addition to really digging the song, the thing I remember most is asking Dad about it and him telling me that Jim Croce had recently been killed in a plane crash.

and you KNEW this one was coming!!

1. Cum On Feel The Noize (Quiet Riot) – 1983

It was several years after the camping debacle; sometime in 1983 for sure. Dad was driving my siblings and I along a rural stretch of Pennsylvania road when the drums kicked in. My immediate instinct was to yell “TURN IT UP!!!”

I don’t know what it was, but something about that song hooked me in from the get-go. It was unlike anything I had ever done before. It was the first time I had ever heard the song and I still recall telling the rest of the people who were in the car with me to shut the f#ck up so I could listen (Ok, I said “heck” – after all, my Dad was there).

Now it’s your turn. Feel free to share your own list of songs. The ones you remember most from driving as a kid!