The story begins one day when I was driving home from
Western New England College (I have
commuter status) down Mapleshade Road in
East Longmeadow, tuning in to WRNX. WRNX is a high-quality variety
rock radio station that runs from the
1970s to
today, and surprisingly manages to play music that is both interesting and good.
Anyway, as I hit a long straight stretch just out of Springfield, I'm about to change the station. Suddenly, I hear the familiar intro to the Proclaimers' I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles), and decide to stay. Hey, it's a great song. The Toy Dolls version rocks, too.
Pretty soon, I'm tappin' my fingers on the steering wheel and generally getting caught up in the beat. Unbeknownst to me, I'm exceeding the speed limit on this fairly small street. I'm going 50, 60 miles per hour, even. Certainly not within my rights.
Have you ever looked at other cars to see if people are singing along to the same song that you are? That's practically all I do. But going this fast, it's a real problem. The thirtysomething businessman driving the Mazda Protege is singing right along, and I'm astounded. Nobody is ever singing the same song as me!
I suddenly realize that I'm veering onto the left side of the road.
In a tragic gesture, the last thing that I saw before I blacked out was the man raising his hand for the "Da da daa daa!" part of the song.
At least Charlie and Craig Reid were nice enough to stop by the hospital and thank me for my life-threatening taste for their song.