(My apologies to Bonnie Tyler and whomever wrote “Total Eclipse of the Heart”)
Every now and then
I get mighty peeved that you never drive me ’round
Every now and then
I get mighty tired of your smack talk about grinding my gears
Every now and then
I get awfully worried that all my prime years have gone by.
Every now and then
I get awfully concerned about why you never take me for a drive
(Fix me up, Owner guy)
Every now and then I need a part.
(Fix me up, Owner guy)
Every now and then I need a part.
Every now and then
I get all depressed and dream of going for a mighty long drive.
Every now and then
I get green with envy when you pilot those white and silver cars around.
Every now and then
I get a little bit antsy and want my carburetor opened up wide.
Every now and then
I get a little bit eager to cruise around under the warm blue sky.
(Fix me up, Owner guy) Every now and then I need a part. (Fix me up, Owner guy) Every now and then I need a part.
And you can work on me tonight
Doing it won’t take forever.
And if you work on me tonight,
I may likely run forever.
And you’ll get me running just right,
‘Cause doing so simply can’t be wrong.
Together we can rocket blast to the state line,
Yet your neglect is like a shadow over me all of the time.
I don’t know what to do as I’m always left in park,
My tank is full of gasoline, so see if I’ll start.
You should work on me tonight.
My engine really wants to light.
My engine really wants to light.
Once upon a time you were falling for me,
Now, I’m only falling apart.
There’s one thing you can do
By putting on some new parts.
Once upon a time I was the light of your life,
Now I’m only parked in the yard.
Nothing I can say,
I only need some new parts.
That would be Jim Steinman, who’s best known for writing several songs performed by Meat Loaf (including the original “Bat Out of Hell” album.)
Beat me to it
Hee hee…Nice. 🙂
You had me at ’60 Plymouth Suburban.
Same here.
Me too. I have a surprisingly intense attraction to these, ever since I featured one on my Two-door wagon posts: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-the-short-and-odd-life-of-the-two-door-station-wagon/
Me too!
And I would rat-rod that one to the hilt (in other words, leave the exterior exactly as-is, even going so far as to swap the normal low and high beam positions so the outer lamp on the driver’s side could stay missing).
That thing would part trafffic like Moses at the Red Sea!
+1 to disturb that patina would be a sin!
+2 you took the words right out of my mouth
I see what you did there… 😉
Thanx for this ~ I’d never hear it before .
Nice photos too .
I usta did have a Dodge pickup like the one in the far left of the very first photo , a B1B with fluid drive and three on the tree .
-Nate
Nice.
You have just updated the soundtrack in my head for whenever I see a neglected old car. 🙂
Are we seeing the start of a new career? Jason Shafer, the Weird Al Yankovic of old car music? I didn’t say a lucrative career, but a career nonetheless.
Lucrative? Isn’t that, like, the temperature of tap water?
Seriously, I’ve been doing a fairly hefty amount of research for another article, so I needed to lighten my mood. I had been teaching Spawn the difference between lunar and solar eclipses, when Mrs. Jason started singing the song. Twenty minutes later, voila!
The white Mercury looks so sad.
This is one of my favorite songs.
Really neat twist here.
Like.
Love it. Back in 1983 and I was a Top 40 radio personality, “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” was everywhere…and I was a sucker for Steinman’s stuff anyway. “Bat Out Of Hell” is both a time capsule and an all-time classic album.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qqhc9Id-Os
Yes, Mr. Loaf remade this in 1993 but I think the original is better…
If I were a MoPar guy I’d want that ’60 Plymouth. Even better, my cousin Ralph had a white ’59 from California in his Vermont junkyard, back in the early 80’s.
But I have my Handyman…and parts in the garage…now all I have to do is finish the house and I can tear into it with my wife’s blessing!
Gotta go hang some French doors…
I had a 64 Mercury Comet 4 door sedan for my first American car.The white Mercury looks a lot like a Mk3 Ford Cortina head on.More Mercuries please.
“…now I’m only falling apart.”
I shouldn’t read this stuff at work. Everyone is wondering what I’m laughing at…
If you could ever get copyright approval, this would make a great video.
I am guessing the bronze over white color on the 60 Plymouth Suburban must have been their default color? Our family owned not one, but two 60 Suburbans in this color combination. And at the same time!.
I could only identify two cars in that third photo, but two out of three ain’t bad I don’t think – that first car had me puzzled for a minute but it all came back to me now and I recognise it as a Plymouth, which got me to thinking if its dashboard lights work, my rock and roll dreams may come true and I could possibly see paradise – although apparently objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are, which would be embarrassing if the rear seat passengers were making love out of nothing at all (although as for me personally, I’d do anything for love but I wouldn’t do that, no matter what).
I see what you did there. Hehehe.
Useless trivia: While “Total Eclipse Of the Heart” was #1 on the U.S. pop chart in the fall of 1983, “Making Love Out Of Nothing At All” was #2.
That’s the thing with knowing useless trivia – it leaves the holder of said trivia feeling revved up with no place to go… 😉
broken starter jodler
I can’t believe I actually pressed play.
Maybe I should have added a warning: for Bavarians only!
I think I subconsciously was affected by frequently reading the name ‘Niedermeyer’ in these pages.
This transcends language.
I’m mostly German, so I had watch this. From now on, I’m spelling my last name as Schaeffer.
I didn’t heed your warning, but then us Tiroler are kissing cousins to you Bavarians, eh? Very nice; now if he could do a Chrysler reduction starter, that would be impressive.
He’s pretty good actually. I wonder if he can do a Triumph 2500S broken starter? They’re quite distinctive. I presume all that wordy stuff he sings relates to the workshop manual for fixing said starter? 😉
I can hear my ’75 Corvette and ’72 Delta 88 gently serenading me with this tune every time I rush past them, as I head to my parents’ house to assist with another one of my dad’s crazy garden projects. 🙁