Picture, if you will, driving from Lynbrook, Long Island, to Miami, Florida, in a smoke filled wood-paneled station wagon, 3 howling boys with no seat belts, bouncing from back seat to cargo area without abandon. The year was 1976, and the soundtrack was Frampton Comes Alive. Sounds like we’d all never heard before, voice synthesized through guitar. I was on the edge of 10, but my brothers and dad were really into this sound. Wah, wah wah wah wah Waaah, wah wahwah wah WAH wah wah wah. I can picture it pretty vividly, and every single time I hear Show Me The Way, I am brought back to that simple time in the Marino family’s history, our first real road trip. It’s one of the only songs that reminds me of my brothers from a more innocent time, and over the past few years as my oldest brother Carmine was going through all his cancer treatments, I would snap a pic of the Sirius screen in my car to text it to him and remind him of the simpler times. I guess now it takes on a more sentimental meaning.
From the historical writing archive. Original date: November 26, 2015. Recovered from local source material; editorial review is still in progress.
