Saturday 9

 

Eastbound and Down

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love to answer the questions, however, and here is today's questions!

Saturday 9: Eastbound and Down (1977)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This week's song was featured in the movie Smokey and the Bandit, the surprise box office hit of 1977. Have you seen it?

Yes. Saw it when it first came out.

2) Though not well received by critics, Smokey and the Bandit had one very famous fan: Alfred Hitchcock. The classic film director enjoyed re-watching the movie on video at home, often while having dinner. Do you ever watch TV with your meal?

Yes.

3) Jerry Reed not only wrote and performed the movie's theme, he appeared in the movie as truck driver Cledus "Snowman" Snow. Have you ever driven, or ridden in, a big rig?

I’ve ridden in a 12 foot truck from Florida to New York.  It was in 2013.  We were moving someone’s belongings after they relocated to New York. We got a chance to see some sites along the way.

4) He sings, "We've got a long way to go and a short time to get there." Have you recently felt rushed?

I work in a very fast-paced environment.  I always feel rushed.

5) Director Hal Needham asked Jerry Reed for a song that explained the plot of the movie. He wrote this overnight and always considered it a happy accident. Can you think of a time when something turned out better than you expected?

Last year Drew won tickets for a local NASCAR race.  I wasn’t sure I’d like it, but we had a great night.

6) Reed was born in Atlanta and, coincidentally, he mentions Atlanta in the lyrics. Has your hometown been immortalized in song? 

No songs about the town where I grew up, but John Coltrane wrote some of his best while living in my home town. The house he lived in is now a museum.

I currently live in Levittown, NY, the prototype for postwar suburban development.  I live about a mile from the house where Billy Joel grew up — 20 Meeting Lane, a Levitt home in Hicksville.  (They used to call that neighborhood the “Levittown part of Hicksville”.  Billy sometimes says he’s from Levittown.) His song “Allentown” was originally called “Levittown”.

But you will see a lot of Long Island references in his lyrics.  Cold Spring Harbor (his first album), for example, is a town on the North Shore, next door to Oyster Bay (“from a town known as Oyster Bay, Long Island rode a boy with a six pack in his hand …”) The Miracle Mile (mentioned in “It’s Still Rock and Roll”) is a shopping area in Manhasset. The Village Green is a public park behind a strip mall — Billy would most likely have gone to West Village Green on Newbridge Road in Hicksville; East Village Green is on Jerusalem Avenue in Levittown).  “The Downeaster Alexa” is all about fishermen on the East End. And so on …

Yeah, I am definitely a Billy Joel fan.

7) Jerry met Priscilla Mitchell at Capitol Records, where Jerry was a session musician and Priscilla was backup singer. Though she was only 18 when they wed, it seems their union was a happy one and they were together until his death almost 50 years later. If a newly engaged 18-year-old asked you for advice, what would you say?

Don’t ask me, I wasn’t very good at marriage.

8) In 1977, when "Eastbound and Down" was on the radio, nostalgia for the 1950s topped the TV ratings. The two most popular shows that year were Laverne & Shirley and Happy Days. If you magically transported back to the 1950s, what do you think you'd like about it? What do you think you'd miss about your life in 2026?

I have a real interest in history, I love learning about the past.  I wouldn’t mind spending sometime in the 50’s, the music was great, the movies were epic, etc.  But I’m very much a modern woman, a feminist, and someone who believes in equality and civil rights for everyone.  Eventually I’d find myself having arguments with a lot of people around me.

9) Random question: Were you ever afraid of monsters in your closet or under your bed?

No.

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!