February 19, 2003
Singing in the Car
I am not afraid to admit that I sing REALLY loud when I am in the car alone. I am, however, quite embarrassed when I am caught singing really loud in the car... and playing "air drums."
The advantage I have is that my car has fairly good soundproofing, meaning that road and wind noise is kept to a minimum inside the passenger cabin. I can, of course, still feel the thumping bass notes being emitted from the pimped out Honda next to me (the driver is approximately 11 years old, or so it seems), but I'm pleased with the sound system in my car. And it's loud when I want it to be. This is 100% of the time when I am alone in the car and a good song comes on.
I listen to a pretty wide variety of music on the radio, but I really enjoy singing along to country music, radio hits from my high school days, and just about anything from James Taylor. The thing is, I mainly sing bass (not the fish), and though I try to sing lead on a lot of songs, I'm sure the record companies won't come calling anytime soon. But I continue to sing along.
Despite the fact that I don't have a recording contract, and never have been convinced that karoke (sp?) is a good idea, I am a firm believer that everyone who sings along with the radio in their car believes themselves to be equal in sound quality with whomever is singing. And could "definitely play that guitar riff" if a guitar were handy.
Well, the other day I got caught. Not just singing at the top of my lungs (the veins were surely throbbing at my temples as I tried to hit notes well out of my range), but playing the air drums as if I were in the World's Greatest Drummer competition. So here I am, singing, flailing, having the time of my life, when I realize that the kids in the Honda are looking at me as if I were having a seizure or possibly suddenly taken over by aliens without rhythm.
I paused, and we stared at each other as the light turned from red to green.
The kids continued to stare.
So what was left to do? I figured I'd done enough drumming for the moment. But, darn it, the best part of the song was coming up and I wasn't going to miss out on singing the final few stanzas. So I stomped on the gas, took a deep breath, and kept right on singing.
Posted by MEK at February 19, 2003 10:40 PM