Monday, June 21, 2010

Soundtracks For Summer: Holiday Road

Part 15 in my "Soundtracks For Summer" Series.

It's the official first day of Summer, so you know what that means: Year 3 of "Soundtracks For Summer," my summer blog series that highlights songs that define "summer."

We begin the 2010 edition with "Holiday Road," better known as the theme song to National Lampoon's Vacation.



Sung by Lyndsay Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac fame, this is a song that's absolutely perfect for road trips, especially ones where EVERYTHING'S hilariously going wrong. I know because I took one of those myself a few weeks ago to Atlantic City.

Tip of  the Trade: If you don't have EZ-Pass and accidentally bypass the toll lanes in New Jersey, don't assume they can't tell. Because they can. I don't know HOW an empty parkway was able to get a real close zoom on my license plate, but they did. It turns out this happened three times. In addition to the toll (Fifty Cents/One Dollar), they whack you for an additional $25! Yeesh. Thank goodness I got hit by the tolls when leaving & coming back from LI, because the Verazzano believes that it's not raping your wallet ENOUGH. $11 "Leaving New York Toll" my ass.

Where was I? Oh, right, the song. You're lost, your GPS can't help you, Christie Brinkley is following you in her car, and every street looks the same. On top of it all, the place you're driving to turns out to be closed the whole time. That's what this song means: The Journey, not the Destination, is what makes a roadtrip awesome. Okay, the destination is WHY you're road-tripping in the first place, and it might be pretty awesome, but it's the journey that makes it. I think.

By the way, this is probably the only non-Fleetwood Mac thing Lyndsay Buckingham's known for, aside from getting constantly bumped on "What's Up With That?!"



BTW, I'm also taking reader submissions for future "Soundtracks For Summer" entries. If you've got an idea, pop me an email at beamingforbunnies@gmail.com OR comment on this entry OR at the Facebook Fan Page with the name of the song, and a reason or two why it defines "Summer" for you. You'll be glad you did.

No comments: