Recently I participated in Laura Shovan’s 12th Annual February Poem Project. The theme this year was “Games.” During the month, we explored so many facets of games–playground games, relationship games, imaginary games, board games, word games, and more.
The day got away from me when the prompt was for car games, but a memory has stayed with me and made me smile. This memory is from about 60 years ago when car windows rolled with a crank and cars didn’t have seat belts or air-conditioning. At least I don’t remember having air-conditioning until the 1970s.
We were on a cross-country road trip from Washington, DC headed to Yellowstone National Park and later to see relatives in Utah. Back then, this meant four long, hot days in the car. With the windows down it was hard to hear each other, but we passed the time singing, coloring, snacking, and sleeping.
On the 3rd day of this trip we were probably in Nebraska with its flat roads, cornfields, cows, and bugs. The goal was probably to make it to Cheyenne, Wyoming. It was hot. My sister and I had probably been too rowdy in the back seat, singing “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” or the 59th rendition of “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.” Hence, my dad’s admonition, “Now, hush, you girls.”
What could we do quietly? I don’t remember who had the idea first, but we decided to play a variation of “Name that Tune” by silently shaking the other person’s arm in a rhythm of a familiar song. You surrendered your arm to your sister who would then shake the rhythm. First, it made us laugh just to see the other’s arm flopping around (the more relaxed, the more we laughed).
Our library of possible song choices was pretty huge – all the hymns we knew from church, all the songs we sang in school, all the songs we knew from the radio and our few favorite LPs. “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam” was particularly fun. There was one song, however, which became the signature song of this game. Even now, we will laugh if one of us begins the rhythm.
It was from our favorite album of Peter, Paul, and Mary (Album 1700) and was called “The Song is Love.” This was mid-1960s music and we loved it. “The Song is Love” begins with a distinctive beat–Dum-de-DUM, Dum-de-DUM. Try that with a limp noodle arm. You can listen to the song here. Picture two hot pre-teens in the back seat of a car rolling down the highway. One girl has the other’s arm in her hands and begins Dum-de-DUM, Dum-de-DUM. And then they are singing again:
I’ve found a song, let me sing it with you
Let me say it now, while the meaning is new
But wouldn’t it be good if we could say it together?
Don’t be afraid to sing me your mind
Sing about the joy that I know we can find
Wind them around, and see what they sound like together
The song is love, the song is love
Lyrics by Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey, and Mary Travers
Our poor parents probably wondered, “Are we there yet?”
a place of safety, support, and beauty.
pelicansandprose 
what a testament to crazy, creative sisterhood! I love how your focus in games brought up this old memory. A story well told, I was totally there in the hot car with you both, giggling and trying to guess. And your end line is perfect.
I wonder if my dad regretted telling us to be quiet because all the laughter may have been worse than the singing!
So, I can remember the crank windows, the heat of the unairconditioned car, the boredom of the backseat, but I somehow missed that Peter, Paul and Mary song. I’m not sure how that can be. I got a very clear picture of the scene in your family’s car. In my memories there was a lot less harmony and giggling between me and my sister during those rides. Our games were the license plate hunt and geography (the one where you have to think of a place that begins with the last letter of the previous person’s turn. If they said “Albuquerque, then you had to come up with an E place). My older sister also like the game Boticelli, I think mostly because I wasn’t very good at it). Like Fran, I really appreciated the twist of your last line in this post.
Yes! Lots of license plate games! After I got married, I learned to identify the many breeds of cattle with my husband’s instruction. Then it was “Name that Cow.”
I so enjoyed reading about the creative game you and your sister came up with to pass the time. I think that is one thing that kids miss out on nowadays. Now they are plugged into movies or tablets. I loved the family games- License Plate game, I’m Going on a Picnic and Going to Bring…, Can you Guess My Number?, Car Bingo- a bingo board that was created by the player with things you might see out the window. Also the pleasure of fresh air and a fully open car window is a pleasure not often experienced by many often.
I still enjoy windows down!
What a perfect memory captured! And I love the last line!
Marilyn, I’m sitting here listen to “The Song is Love” and imagine your limp arm flying to the beat held by your sister. Fun! I like how you remembered this because of the February poetry challenge and car games. That’s one of the great things about prompts, isn’t it? It reminds us of old stories.