Motormouth: The Beatles have the best songs for my motoring situations
Somehow, my favourite Beatles tunes played either in my mind or on my music player whenever a motoring situation called for it.
When I was a young man with no car and no girlfriend, Can’t Buy Me Love was so true, but I also believed that “money can’t buy me love, but money can buy me a car I love”.
When I got lucky and bought my first car, it was like the vehicular version of falling in love for the first time.
I Saw Her Standing There and “my heart went ‘boom’ when I crossed the room” (showroom). Then I told her I Want To Hold Your Hand, and I also want to hold your gear knob and steering wheel.
I signed on the dotted line while humming Got To Get You Into My Life.
After I changed from that simple runabout to a more complicated, less reliable rocket, three Beatles tunes were my constant companions - Don’t Let Me Down (please don’t break down, again); Help! (it broke down, again); and Let It Be, lah.
The lyrics of the third song were slightly modified by me because of my unreliable vehicle - “When I find myself in times of mechanical trouble, Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, let it be”.
Thankfully, it wasn’t all sad songs and bad situations.
The Beatles happily played in my head in every convertible I drove (Here Comes The Sun), in every rounding/tracking/karting session I attended (Helter Skelter), and on every road trip anywhere in the world (Day Tripper).
Each sports car encountered in my line of work would make me think of “Something in the way she moves, attracts me like no other lover”.
I like to subscribe to the Beatles’ belief that All You Need Is Love, plus petrol to be internally combusted by your ICE car, electricity to recharge your electric car, and a COE.
In my career as a motoring writer/editor, I have achieved decent mileage With A Little Help From My Friends and I thank them.
Some have gone and some remain, just like how the Fab Four are down to two in a poignant real-life rendition of Hello, Goodbye. Fans can still say hello to Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, but they have bid goodbye to George Harrison and John Lennon.
You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one, especially when it comes to dreaming about cars.
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