I wanna drive it all night long

The year is drawing to a close, and as usual if you had told me on January 1 that the year would end like this, I'd have about dropped my teeth. Seriously, Iraqi government: Did you have to hang Saddam so tantalizingly close to the new year? He probably had planned a real Swingin' New Year's bash, unaware that he actually would swing before it ever happened. And now all the would-be guests are wondering whether they should still go. Sure, it's probably in bad taste, but the champagne's still there, and it's paid for, so really, what's the diff?

I remember the day three years ago when he was caught, and images of disembodied hands checking his disheveled hair for nits dominated every TV station in the world. I was in Chicago, planning to fly back to New York that day and wondering how gentle the TSA people would be with their full-cavity searches.

As we contemplate 2006, and how much it mostly sucked, we must remember that life is a highway. I am reminded of this fact about 12 times a day, because Robert is now the proud owner of the "Cars" DVD, in which that song features prominently. Not Tom Cochrane's original, but an overpolished update from the country-boyband Rascal Flatts (whose name sounds just a wee bit too focus-groupy). It's got fiddles and sexy backup singing and is officially the catchiest song ever committed to MP3 format. I bought it with one of the iTunes gift cards I got for Christmas, and the boys and I like to crank it up, set it on repeat, and dance ourselves stupid. We start off calmly enough when those first stylin' geetar licks start up, and by the end the boys are mostly naked, chests heaving, and begging for water.

You know that standard movie shot, the one that peers into the window of an apartment from very far away at the boisterosity within? (The only one I can think of now is Tom Hanks and Elizabeth jumping on the trampoline in "Big.") Whenever we dance to that song, I picture the three of us in that shot, hopping up and down and shaking our biscuits without a care in the world.

Here's hoping you can have that same blissful time ringin' and swingin' in the New Year. I'm off to hang out with my family, who will spend the next couple days celebrating my dad's 70th birthday party and hoping our highways are as long and blessed as his. I can't predict the extent of biscuit-shaking there will be at his party, but I'm sure I'll be able to use the pictures to negotiate a nice chunk of the will.

Comments

[kimberlee]

:)

That's what they mean by "dance like no one is watching."

Those are moments that I love - spinning and dancing until the dog gets worked up and we collapse on the floor.

[Kyran, NTS]

I'm not sure how it makes me feel that the soundtrack of my adolesence is now the soundtrack of Disney animated features. Well, yes, I am sure. It makes me feel decrepit. I will just sit here and tap my cane on the floor whilst you youngsters dance.

Tangentially speaking, some of the catchiest new music these days is written specifically for little kids: try Justin Roberts, Zach Danes and the They MIght Be Giants alphabet album.

Many Happy Returns to Dad, and a Happy New Year!

[Amanda]

I bought Alex a Cars boombox and the movie soundtrack in the (naive) hope that it would help him sleep. Now all he does is get out of bed to ask me to play that song again.

[mammaloves]

I so love the original version and have a hard time liking the version by a band that gained popularity through Star Search. Though how can you not get it caught in your head. We've been watching the same flick for a month now.

I do love Pixar!!

[croutonboy]

I was prepared to lambaste you for referencing the Cochrane song because I grew ridiculously sick of it during its heyday and haven't quite recovered. The image of you guys dancing (through what I can only assume are the massive floor-to-ceiling windows of your apartment, which is most certainly the same size that Tom Hanks had) has reclaimed it for me, and I must now go steal that Rascal Flatts song.

Best wishes to the whole family!

[Amy Davis]

Strangely, I was also in Chicago the weekend Saddam was captured. I remember very well watching the news that morning in our hotel room. Seems like eons ago.

If you really want to experience Rascal Flatts, try to catch one of their videos on CMT -- painfully literal interpretations of some horrific songs. But the "Highway" cover sounds cool. there's something to be said for recording a song that's catchy as hell.

[sgazzetti]

I was eating Taco Bell Express in the food court at the BX at Aviano AFB when L. Paul Bremer said, "We got 'im" -- ''im' being Saddam for the purposes of this narrative. It was all a bit surreal.

But not as surreal as the speed with which they hanged him. I imagine Saddam was surprised.

I wish to you and your readers a happy new year, barbarity and Rascal Flatts notwithstanding.

[Jenny]

Oh, that damn song. My four-year-old daughter managed to buy it off of iTunes by herself. Now we're going driving all night long as well.

Happy New Year!

[Becky]

Happy New Year!

[21stCenturyMom]

If it makes you dance it can't be bad.

Happy New Year!

[Corinne]

Dude, Rascall Flatts totally performed that song last night on Dick's Rockin' New Years Eve... I thought about you

[Wendy]

Yes, old enough here to remember the original (and it wasn't that long ago) and my son watches the CARS Dvd about 2,348 times a day and sings at the top of his lungs "I wanna drive it all night lOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" (dropping the NG) - good times, good times..