10 Comments

Nice thread you followed. Keep on rockin’ in the free world - while it is!

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The log riders may have some kinship to the cheese wheel chasers!

Mr. Goldberg has it right - Neil Young wrote that for Rust Never Sleeps. One of my favorite albums. I would love to hear Sedan Delivery worked in to one of your playlists. :)

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He's absolutely right - and I'm about to fire 2/3 of my fact-checking team for not noticing that I didn't include a link!

And 'Sedan Delivery' ... hmm. That's a great one. I was recently listening to 'Cortez the Killer,' which led me to 'Old Man,' which then made me think Tonight's the Night might just need to be a Bus Stop in the near future.

If you have any other suggested tracks, let me know!

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My goodness, what a playlist!!

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Thanks! That was a fun one to put together. Limiting it to 1983 meant having to listen to a lot of great tracks - choosing only five wasn't easy.

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Thanks for the shout out! I had never heard of Onbashira. It does sound like something that would happen in Japan to me though! It features that combination of zen with insanity (riding the log down the hill!!!) that no country does better.

Regarding "Better to burn out than fade away" I imagine it has to be an ode to Neil Young's "My My Hey Hey," where it was sung first. I always felt confused by that line because I think of a fire burning out as a relatively slow process that is similar to fading away. So they didn't seem like opposites to me. I would think "better to go out in flames than to fade away" or something like that. But I get caught up in semantics quite often...:)

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Yes - I fully appreciate Onbashira's merging of zen with insanity (zensanity?)! And, yeah - that line is definitely lifted from Neil Young, though as a 13 y/o, I'd had no idea - I just thought it was cool. As the (much) older writer of The Bus though, I'm appalled that not one of my team of fact-checkers didn't catch this and insist I included a link to Crazy Horse ... I promise: heads will roll!

On another note, I wonder if it is a conscious reference to him? It seems like a line that could be concocted by any 'heavy metal' (and I use that lightly, as I'm not sure what exactly Def Leppard's subgenre might be) band - certainly sounds 'tough', though ...

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Wow! That would sure be something to see. I can imagine how they “prepare” for that ride as little boys in their moments of play. Sounds like something my boys would try if given the idea.

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I can see a lot of sofas and cushions involved in the earliest days of 'preparation'? Before moving outside with sleds and go-carts and all the other stuff that makes childhood brilliant!

Don't think I'd want to end up riding a 20 tonne log, though! I'm kind of averse to crushing pain ...

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😂 you and me both!

A sled attached to the back of an atv is year-round entertainment for my children. We’re just over here living our best hillbilly life. 🤦🏼‍♀️

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