Car Radio, Summer of 1969

I was a little kid.  We lived in an apartment complex.  There was a pool.  It was summer of 1969.  I was outside all the time.  There was a parking lot next to the pool.  One of our neighbors had a car up on blocks.  It was always on blocks,  maybe it's still up on blocks?


Our neighbor was a "Grease Monkey."  He was always working on that car; under the hood, under the car.  He was always streaked with grease and oil.  That was part of his uniform.  The car had a very good radio.  And the radio was always on, maximum volume.  And it was tuned to a Top Forty station.  All the hits, all the time.


And the number one song, that summer, the song that kicked me upside the head, and made me listen was the Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Women."  It opened with a cowbell, and a really dirty guitar sound, and the drums were big and funky and upfront, and then the first line... "I met a gin-soaked, barroom queen in Memphis..."  It was all such an eye and ear opener for a little confused Catholic Boy...


My little mind reeled at some of the other lines too... "I laid a Divorcee in New York City..." and "She blew my nose, then she blew my mind..."  and "The Lady, she covered me in Roses..."  Something was going on... I just didn't quite know what... and the band kicked ass, it rocked, it was the essence of rock and roll, it was the essence of cool...