Soundtracks For Summer: The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota

Part 9 in my "Soundtracks For Summer" series.

For part 9 in our series of songs that define "Summer," how about some travelling music?



Come on, it was only a matter of time before Weird Al Yankovic showed up during this series. Although there aren't a lot of his songs that are in a "Summery" mood, this one sure feel it. In fact, it's the last track on his 1989 "UHF" Soundtrack that had been released alongside the related movie during the summer of 1989. It was a perfect cap to that great album. In fact, at nearly 7 minutes, it was his longest song until "Albuerquerque" came along 10 years later on his "Running with Scissors" album. Also, if you ever wanted to know the success of UHF, compare its Summer 1989 release with Space Chimps opening the same day as The Dark Knight. You get the idea.

Sadly, out of all the Weird Al songs that have videos, this one does not, hence the pretty-good quality fan video that you have hopefully just watched.

Good old fashioned road trips are awesome. Just load up the car with whatnot and a map and/or Googlemaps and just head on out there into the great stretch that is America...or Canada. I haven't done one of these in a while, I really should do it.

Just the beat of the song is simply in tune with a tiny little ruckamuck car travelling down an Interstate or Thruway towards some out of the ordinary destination. In my case, it was usually the Upstate, NY region. Of course, I had to collect all of the brochures for all the local haunts, like Natural Stone Bridges & Caves, the Lake Placid Olympic Center, Whiteface Mountain, the Build-A-Bear Workshop in Burlington, and, of course, The Great Escape in Lake George.

I'm a sucker for roadside attractions, and all of the places that Weird Al rattled off simply make me excited in the lower regions of the pants area. Then again, I'm from Long Island, and there's not that many interesting sites to see aside from Golf Courses and that Big Duck. We don't even have Cracker Barrels, so seeing billboards for that one make me grab the KY. I'm a messy sightseer.

I've also never picked up a hitchhiker like Bernie, but I've had orgasmic reactions like Al had at the Twine Ball for other locations. Intercourse, Pennsylvania is such a letdown.


I'm still taking reader suggestions for "Soundtracks For Summer" entries. Although this time I'm looking for input on a certain song: "Walk The Dinosaur" by Was Not Was. If anyone out there has any memories of the song, or why it defines "Summer" for you, contact me at beamingforbunnies@gmail.com