The "Backseat Drummer" Story

Courtney, the back seat drummer.

 It was an ordinary day.  Banging on the horn cover in the CR-V, tapping out the rhythm for one of the songs on our "Best of the 60's" CD that Carol and I, along with our 12 year old granddaughter Courtney, are singing and adding background music to as we head home from our niece's house in nearby Ephrata, PA.  The trip is about 20 minutes long and during that time we have a chance to treat our granddaughter to some of the greatest music from our generation.  You know, the 60's, when music was really music.  Songs like "Louie, Louie" by the Kingsmen, "Stay" by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs, "Hang On Sloopy" by The McCoys, "Wooly Bully" by Sam The Sham and The Pharaohs, "Devil with the Blue Dress On" by Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, and the song that took us the quarter mile from Rt. 272 (Oregon Pike) to our house - "Mony, Mony" by Tommy James and the Shondells.  As soon as we left Ephrata it was evident that Courtney was going to be part of the band as she began tapping on the headrest of Carol's front row seat.  These were songs that she had never heard before in her life, but truly enjoyed as we sang and played along.  Lyrics are simple to learn and ones that you can actually can understand.  I think her exact words were, "You guys and this music are pretty cool!"  Carol turned up the volume when "Louie, Louie" began and I swear you could feel the car vibrating and swaying as we made our way south on Rt. 272 towards Lancaster.  Through the rear-view mirror I could see a smile on Courtney's face.  Carol was riding shotgun and rubbing the aluminum foil together from the tray of cookies we had taken along to make it sound like cymbals while Courtney and I had the drums going.  Then, we made the turn from Rt. 272 onto Roseville Road and all of a sudden we heard …. Here she comes now sayin' Mony Mony  …..  Shoot 'em down turn around come on Mony  …..  "wait a minute, where are those new drum noises coming from," I said.  "I downloaded an App on my phone that has drums that I can play to the music," Courtney said from the back seat.  Wow, she really was with it!  Pretty cool kid!!  it was another extraordinary day in the life of ordinary guy.