My Dad's Long Drive in the Country Car Songs

My Mom and Dad loved to take long car trips. We all sang on long car drives. Sometimes we had a radio and sometimes we did not. We sang these songs anyway. Con brio.

We always stopped at an ice cream stand that looked like an ice cream cone. Roadside attractions in the 50s tended to look like what they were selling.

We would drive down the Delaware River sometimes. At the end of one bridge you could get charcoal broiled hot dogs and real root beer from the window of an old frame house that edged the road. 

Everytime I hear one of these songs, I am transported to happy. Love you, Dad. Miss you every day.

ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE ~ Johnny Mercer & The Pied Pipers (1945) (live recording). Words by: Johnny Mercer - Music by: Harold Arlen - copyright: 1944

Minnie the Moocher is a jazz song first recorded in 1931 by Cab Calloway and His Orchestra, selling over a million copies,

St. James Infirmary Blues, sometimes known as Gambler's Blues, is an American folksong of anonymous origin, though sometimes credited to the songwriter Joe Primrose (a pseudonym for Irving Mills). Louis Armstrong made it famous in his influential 1928 recording.

Louis Prima (December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978) was an Italian-American singer, actor, songwriter, and trumpeter. Prima rode the musical trends of his time, starting with his seven-piece New Orleans style jazz band in the late 1920s, then leading a swing combo in the 1930s, a big band in the 1940s, a Vegas lounge act in the 1950s, and a pop-rock band in the 1960s.

Ms. Mary Giblin's Old Fashioned Sweet Chili Sauce

Bill Giblin, Mary Giblin's son, did the technical drawings in 1938 for my Father's model airplane The Trenton Terror. People are still building the model all these years later.

Bill also played a Munchkin Soldier in the film The Wizard of Oz. He once showed me an autographed studio photograph of Margaret Hamilton he kept as a souvenir.

I used to go with my Dad to visit the Giblin's. They would make us Creamed Chicken and Waffles. Mrs. Giblin would send some Chili Sauce home with us. It is delicious with Cheese. It is savory but not hot.

Mary Giblin's Chili Sauce

6 Onions
3 green Peppers
18 medium ripe Tomatoes
1 cup Brown Sugar
2 1/2 cups strong Vinegar
2 level teaspoons Salt
1 teaspoon each Cinnamon, Allspice, Nutmeg, and Mace (if you can find it)

1/2 teaspoon Cloves

Chop or grind the Onions and Peppers finely. Cut up the Tomatoes into small pieces. Cook all together slowly for 2 1/2 hours. Watch closely and stir often. Sugar makes things burn easily. Makes about 5 pints.