KEVIN McCORRY, HOST: I’m Kevin McCorry and this is ‘Jukebox Journey.’
[MUSIC MONTAGE: “Brand New Key” by Melanie, “Key to the Highway” by Big Bill Broonzy, “Highway to Hell” by AC/DC, “Straight to Hell” by The Clash]
KM: We’re unstuck in time, jumping through decades and genres, meditating on a theme.
This week: The Great American roadtrip.
When you’re young, the open highway means freedom, endless discovery and the right to blast whatever you please at mammoth decibels.
[MUSIC: “N.I.B.” by Black Sabbath]
KM: From 1970, Black Sabbath.
[MUSIC SWELL]
KM: Soon you find you’re middle aged. The dimensions of your car have widened, as has your grip on the roadtrip playlist.
[MUSIC: “Where’s My Chickie Nuggies Gone?” by Baby Yoda]
KM: And there you are on what they call the freeway, locked in a minivan with your wife and four young children listening to a song from 2020 by an artist named “Baby Yoda.”
[MUSIC SWELL]
KM: You’re on a long drive west. Ahead of you are days of majesty — culture and food, lakes and hikes, waterfalls and friends.
[MUSIC: “Air Volta” by Volta Jazz]
KM: The kind of friends with good taste who spin you vinyl from the West African scene of the ‘60s and ‘70s, like this from the group Volta Jazz.
[MUSIC SWELL]
KM: But at present, wheel in hand, you’re just trying to get from point A to point B. And the kids are still learning the finer lessons of delayed gratification.
So comes the onslaught of questions, complaints, requests, clarifications, advisories, insistences, threats, tears and retaliations.
[MUSIC: “Fables of Fabus” by Charles Mingus]
KM: From his 1959 masterpiece “Ah Um,” Charles Mingus.
For the first hundred and twenty miles, you’re a diplomat. A master of measured reason and logic. A car ride is of course uncomfortable and difficult. But such, you tell the children, are the sacrifices we make. It’s the price of admission. We punched the ticket. And now we take that ride.
[MUSIC: “Motor Away” by Guided By Voices]
From 1995, Guided By Voices.
Pressure builds though as the trip grinds to mile 300. One word punctures the air seemingly every 3 to 4 seconds.
[MUSIC MONTAGE: “Mama Tried” by Merle Haggard, “Mama Said Knock You Out” by LL Cool J, “Mama I’m Coming Home” by Ozzy Osbourne, “Mama Told Me Not to Come” by Three Dog Night, “Mother” by John Lennon, “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen.]
KM: In an attempt to lower the temperature, you play the audiobook of Madeline L’Engle’s classic “A Wrinkle in Time.”
[AUDIOBOOK CLIP]
NARRATOR: “It sometimes calls itself the happiest sadist.”
KM: The older boys are kind of into it. The middle girl loves it. The 4 year old decides she hates it, shrieking in objection.
You alternate to streaming the audio from an episode of Daniel Tiger.
[CLIP FROM “DANIEL TIGER’S NEIGHBORHOOD”]
DANIEL TIGER: “I can’t go outside to play on the beach? That makes me so mad! Roar!”
KM: Younger pair happy. Old pair over it.
And thus you enter a doom loop down the interstate.
As the driver, your mind starts to become mush in waves of sonic delirium.
[MONTAGE OF HEAVILY SOUND-EFFECTED CLIPS FROM ‘DANIEL TIGER’ AND ‘A WRINKLE IN TIME’]
DANIEL TIGER: “When you feel so bad that you want to roar…”
CHARLES WALLACE: “Nobody is ever unhappy”
MEG MURRY: “But nobody is ever happy either”
DANIEL TIGER: “Take a deep breath and count to four.”
[MUSIC: “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” by Smashing Pumpkins]
KM: The older two trade punches in the back row. The younger two wail in fits of insanity.
Tractor trailers tower over you. The rain pours down. Dad finally blows his top in a rage of primordial ‘90s rock.
[MUSIC SWELL]
KM: From 1995, Smashing Pumpkins.
The dust settles, and like a mirage-come-true your destination is finally upon you. You have your days of majesty. The children are glorious souls beaming with goodness and sunshine.
Then, the return trip.
[MUSIC: “Running on Empty” by Jackson Browne]
KM: From 1977, Jackson Browne.
Somehow, the drive back is worse.
But such are the sacrifices you make as a parent. Such is the price of admission. You punched that ticket. Now you take that ride.
Or as Meg says to a possessed Charles Wallace in “A Wrinkle in Time”:
MEG MURRY: “Maybe if you aren’t unhappy sometimes, you don’t know how to be happy…I want to go home.”
KM: You climb into bed beaten and sore. You brace for the next day’s wave of emails and slack messages and calendar meetings.
You wake up bleary, but already scheming the next adventure.
[MUSIC: “On the Road Again” by Willie Nelson]
From 1980, Willie Nelson.
I’m Kevin McCorry and this has been a Jukebox Journey on WHYY.
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