Christopher Rush

As most of you know, I like going places.  I don’t like being places, but I have always enjoyed going places (especially if I’m not driving).  Sometimes the best part of vacations are the several hours in the car or plane, reading or listening to Jack Benny, occasionally falling asleep to one’s head bouncing irregularly off the window.  It was years before music became a regular listening part of my life, much later than usual for a kid, no doubt.  Then there were the rare treats of fast food lunches and ordering pizza with the family in the hotel room for dinner.  Sing-alongs in the car were rare but enjoyable when they occurred: primarily they were Follow that Bird related.  Somehow along the way trips to and from Skate Country became the times to sing “Beloved, Let Us Love One Another” (the 1 John 4:7 and 8 song) pretty much the entire duration of the rides.  This wasn’t a whole family experience, since we never went together as a family, but for school or youth group skate parties, usually with my mom driving.  Those were good opportunities to sing in the car, as well as learn Bible verses.

Now, having the freedom to drive around myself now, on the whole a rather overrated position to be in, since being a passenger able to observe the outside is far more interesting and enjoyable, the one salubrious aspect of driving is the pleasures of singing along with the music playing from the radio or tape player or compact disc player or portable digital music holder.  For the last two years (this being the third year), since getting our new (to us) car with a built-in cd player, I have been listening to my cd collection in order.  Since my driving time each day is exponentially shorter than it was in the early years, it has taken awhile to get through them (it’s not that I have so many, just that I only listen to about four songs a day, on average).  The freedom of driving alone, listening to music I like (free from commercials or advertisements or too many songs I don’t prefer, eliminating any compunction to distract attention from the road by changing stations), is made better by the freedom to sing loudly along with the music.

The key is to feel unashamed to sing loudly with the music despite what people in other cars around you might think or say.  Ideally, your windows are rolled up and the music, though loud, is not loud enough for other cars to hear what song is playing or even hear you actually singing.  I not encouraging you to crank up the bass of your music player so loudly that people in the surrounding neighborhood can feel you approach (nor am I at present deriding such behavior), since that prevents you from being able to hear the music you are supposedly listening to well enough that you can sing along in an enjoyable fashion.  The main point is to be confined within your vehicle so you can hear what you are listening to, no one else, and you are not too self-conscious that the appearance you give to other drivers does not prevent you from singing along.  Of course you want to be aware of what the flow of traffic is doing, and certainly aware of all signs as you drive toward your destination — this is not an encouragement to be haphazard and a danger to others.  Be aware of what is going on but not concerned with what others may think of you as you sing along with your music in a joyful, unashamed way.

Once the barriers of self-consciousness are conquered, your driving experiences will become enjoyable opportunities to revel in musical art — even if you have had neither the training nor natural talent others might find aesthetically pleasing.  Since you have been considerate enough to keep everything but the visual appearance of your performance contained within your vehicle, no one needs to know if you are singing the wrong words at the wrong time or if the key in which you are singing the song does not align with the key in which the artists are performing it.  The joys that accompany this freedom of self-expression are instantly evident, especially if you are singing with an uplifting, energetic song such as “Where the Streets Have No Name” by U2 or Def Leppard’s “Animal” (or other selections of their oeuvre we could mention but shan’t).  Certainly singing fine, classic, high-quality Christian songs written in a bygone era would be apropos, though these would most likely have to be sung along with the recordings on a cd or mp3 player, since not too many radio stations play such quality Christian music these days.

Concomitant with the physical pleasures of being unashamedly free to sing loudly along with the delightful music you enjoy is the added benefit that now the driving experience, once a dolorously vapid experience of daily human necessity (like brushing one’s teeth), becomes an enjoyable component of one’s workday — especially if you are committed to listening to your music collection in some sort of order (most likely alphabetical by musician/band or chronological order of album release).  If you commit to that sort of enterprise, you don’t have to feel bad about listening to songs you don’t normally listen to, since you know the songs you enjoy more are just around the corner (since you probably don’t own too many albums you don’t really like anyway).  The only difficulty comes in those moments when it is time to switch discs or cassettes (if applicable): preferably, wait until the vehicle is not in motion, either at a stoplight/stop sign or parked at your destination.  Given enough practice, depending on the system you have in place, perhaps you can switch cds without frightening oncoming traffic (or worse), but I suggest you practice your technique several times while the vehicle is stopped before you heed the call of the Doobie Brothers and start takin’ it to the streets.

The pleasures of singing in the car are numerous and self-evident.  True, this can certainly be done with a carful of friends and family members and does not have to be done alone.  If with friends, feel free to make this experience a communal enterprise, provided it does not get carried away and dangerous.  If alone, the thing to remember is not to be afraid of what you may look like to other drivers: after all, the joy you demonstrate to them as they see your unabashed musical joie de vivre could very well lift their spirits as well.  They may then start singing unashamedly along with their music and then lift their spirits of others who see them and so on and so on.  You may be doing a kindness to countless others by embracing such an opportunity.  Thus, the next time you are in the car, don’t think of it is a drudgery or chore (even if going to school, work, or some necessary errand): it is an opportunity for a great experience.