Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Rock 'n' Roll Quizzes


Today I took the kids to celebrate Great Grandma Tucker's 93rd birthday at a lunch at the Carriage Crossing in Yoder.  We met her, Grandma Tyler, Aunt Della, and Aunt Johnie for a nice visit.

On the way there, the kids were particularly quiet.  We were running late (as usual).  Annie listened to her iPod, Tana texted, and Andy...well, Andy did whatever it is that he does in his quietness.

After lunch I took them to see mom's office and meet my coworkers, grabbed some paperwork, and we headed home.  However, this time we put some effort into finding a song on the radio.  And that's when it started....The Quiz.

I'm sure Heath suffered through many rounds of this little game when he was growing up as well.  If mom finds a good "classic rock" radio station, it will inevitably happen.

A song starts, the lightbulb comes on in my head, and I have to sing along.  "Do you know who this is?"  If they have to think a while, I just keep singing along.

Sometimes they need hints:  "What's the initials?"  Sometimes they ask the song name.  Is it an artist or a band?  They have actually gotten pretty good at this little game and often surprise me.

The first one today was Rock Me (one of my very favorite songs) by Great White.  They couldn't get this one.  In fact, I don't think they had ever heard the song.  However, they liked it.  Well, of course they did.

And then it happened.

All of a sudden I was a kid again.  I think my family was camping somewhere because we were all in the pea green Ram Charger.  Dad and mom were in front while us kids were piled in the back.  Lisa had to be very, very young.

My dad had the radio tuned to a good station and after each song started he asked, "Do you know who this is?"  I remember listening very hard to try to figure it out, comparing the voice to all of the music that I knew as a child.  And each time I was sure I was right when I would say, "It's Elvis!"  They would laugh and I would be wrong...again.  But with the next song, I was just sure I would be right.  I wonder how many times I guessed the singer to be Elvis that night.  Surely I was eventually right.

Then the memory was gone and I was back in my own vehicle with my own kids.  But I shared this memory with them.

We heard lots of songs and they made lots of guesses over the next 50 miles.  Some of them they got right...ZZ Top, Rolling Stones, even Tom Petty!  And others they didn't....the Eagles (really?!), CCR, and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

But Tana said it best during Proud Mary when she stated, "I like the Elvis version better." Ha...most people don't even realize that Elvis ever sang this as a cover.

That's my girl.