The Power of Suggestion or Sleep Listening

Summer of ’78 I was 13. Go ahead do the math… The house I grew up in had no air conditioning. Still doesn’t. My bedroom was upstairs and had attic spaces on either side. It was unbearably hot in summer and freezing in winter.

But we’re talking about summer. And trying to sleep. I rigged fans at the windows to bring cool air in and blow out the hot air. I would lay in the dark and try to think cooling thoughts. It was miserable up there in the summer.

My fancy flip clock radio had a feature that would play the radio for a up to an hour and shut itself off.

The same clock radio I had

I would turn it down low and try to escape in music so I could fall asleep. There were certain big songs that summer, “Ebony Eyes” by Bob Welch, “Baker Street” by Gerry Rafferty and “Life’s Been Good” by Joe Walsh. They were all played nearly every night, and were good to fall asleep to (In other words, I didn’t care much about them). But one song always woke me back up. “Driver’s Seat” by Sniff ‘n’ the Tears. I’m still mesmerized by that song.

When we got the juke working I started scouting around for places to buy 45s. I bought a lot of 45s from Continental Records.

Original Canadian release

This is one of them. Sniff ‘n’ The Tears’ Driver’s Seat/Slide Away on Atlantic #3604. I’ve never played the flip side. Driver’s Seat.mp3

The great thing about Continental Records is the records are all NEW old stock. He has a ton of titles so pack a lunch before you start looking. They are located in Canada so the shipping is a little high, and wait time for delivery is a little long, but I will repeat, NEW OLD STOCK. And some Canada-only releases. This is a Canadian release.

So “Driver’s Seat” stays in the jukebox. And it will always be summer.