Nazareth, and this song especially, have a special place in my history. Despite what my cousin Heather may say, I didn't listen to Nazareth by choice as a teen (ahem, GnR and others I've accidently forgotten and I swear not because I'm ashamed). Hilariously, it was the only cassette tape my bus driver had. Obviously, if you have a boom box, anything is better than radio silence. I mean, did anyone carry a stereo on their shoulders and not play music? pshh. Where I lived in the late 80's everyone was poor and no one had walkmans so people often graced us with their own double-cassette decks (fucking rich kids) and tastes of music for our trips to school. At some point our 'fancy school bus' got outfitted with a 'stereo system.' I rode the bus for two hours nearly everyday of my life until I was 18 years old. From c1989 to c1992 I did it while listening to Nazareth. That was 2 hours of Nazareth a day for three years. On repeat. Ironically the few words I can remember include "my white bycicle," "love hurts...." and "now you're messing with a Son of a Bitch." Jerks couldn't enunciate worth a damn.
So Nazareth is a Jesus band that has written a song based on my grandfather. Have you met Pop? The chorus of the "hair of the dog" song is his anthem and he doesn't even know. And while I accelerated through intersections and sang like I knew the lyrics "and now your messin' with a, son of a, now your messin' with a sonofabitch" I thought, that's right: I'm a jesus sonofabitch gonna have a killer christmas while I go to toys R us to buy Lew a school bus!
Which ties this whole nonsense together. When asked "hey Lew, what do you want to ask Santa for Christmas?" four-year-old Lewis says "A school bus!"
Jesus.
Merry Christmas, Ya son of a bitch.
1 comment:
Love this, you son of a bitch!
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