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Volkswagens and Bohemian Rhapsody – the Connection.
Written by Jimmy
My very first car was a 1969 Volkswagen bug, previously owned by the original owner, an addicted smoker who yellowed the roof of my precious car. I was determined to fix everything on the car, knowing every bolt, screw and tube. My brother who was 10 years older had a VW Van in 1967 when I was a little kid and I always wanted to be him. It was such a cool van, he played guitar and did how own maintenance. The mandatory purchase at the time was a book called, ‘How to Keep Your Volkwagen Alive’, first published co-incidently in 1969 by a engineer drop-out John Muir. The book wasn’t just a car manual, it was all wrapped up in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974) and the Whole Earth Catalog (1968-72) – the latter was made infamous in Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Address. Here’s the cover:
I raise all this, because the last thing I thought I was buying was a car repair manual – I was buying into the whole drop in – drop out philosophy, driving around with my yellow roofed 1969 VW Bug. As a typical boy, my next steps was to ‘buy kit’ (we’ve talked about this a lot), so I bought a few ‘car tools’. And I waited for stuff to break. It didn’t take long. I had a problem with some widget (I forget which, and my ambiguity on this topic is an indication of the degree I was mastering car maintenance) and I turned to my ‘manual’, life-style guru guide, and no kidding this was the entry: “Step 1: remove the Engine.” What??????????
“Step 1: Remove the Engine” has become a mantra in our lives ever since. Used by Kathy too frequently to remind me that I’ve embarked on things for which I have no training or talent. It is a shame that it still comes in handy, but dear lord it does. When we’ve embarked on a great RV venture in the US and I had a bad 3 metre’s of driving, marooning said RV on a Moab petrol station crash barrier (Set up to keep drivers like my from actually hitting the pump), my lovely wife turned to me and annouced, ‘Step 1, Remove the Engine.” When I’m staring at the 003 mixing desk from Digi Design trying to figure out how to create music, she will turn to me (as I emerge from bubble wrap) and say gently: “Step 1, Remove the Engine.’
Cute. I love her for it. No. Now, the connection. I was having fun looking at videos on line and discovered this wonderful classical guitar version of Boehemian Rhapsody. The song itself takes about 2.30 and then the artist seeks to teach us how to do it. I watched and thought: Step 1: Remove the Engine. You be the judge:
By the way, we tried to capture the spirit of the sixties era in a song called Major Matt Mason from our first album. We refer to my brothers van, blaring Credence Clearwater Revival but it is more from the perspective of the 10 year old playing with his Major Matt Mason spacemen and wanting to go visting planents. Here you go:
And, finally, in the spirt of: ‘After all, its about the music’, here is are two songs in tribute to my 1969 Volkswagen bug:
1. Long May You Run: From Stills/Young in 1976 (two years before I got my car), this is Neil Young’s tribute his 1948 Buick Roadmaster.
2. The Best Song of 1969. 1969 created a great car manual, a great volkswagen bug and comes close to being the single best year in the history of music. Before giving you ‘the song’, let me list some of the ‘greatest songs from 1969’: Whole Lotta Love (LZ), Proud Mary (CCR), Honky Tonk Woman (Stones), Bad Moon Rising (CCR), Suite Judy Blue Eyes (CSNY), Gimme Shelter (Stones), Come Together (Beatles), Pinball Wizard (The Who), Evil Ways (Santana), Space Oddity (Bowie), You Can’t Always Get What You Want (Stones), My Way (Frank Sinatra), Get Back (Beatles), Suspicious Minds (Presley), Here Comes the Sun (Beatles), The Boxer (Simon and Garfunkle) — ARE YOU GETTTING THIS? … The Thrill Is Gone (BB King), The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (The Band), Living in the Past (Jethro Tull), Lay Lady Lay (Bob Dylan), and Spinning Wheel (Blood Sweat and Tears). Pretty amazing song list. In the spirit of failing at most of my major tasks, in the spirit of “Step 1: Remove the Engine”, I think this is the most appropriate choice:
Jimmy