The band "America" has continuously existed for nearly 50 years. The band was started in London by three Americans living abroad with Air Force parents. Learning that fact immediately reminded me of Chip Ahoy.
I'm not quite sure what to make of the lyrics. The song's author claims the song was partly a remembrance of a childhood incident along US 101 near Oxnard, California. The "alligator lizards in the air" were clouds that the younger brothers saw in the sky. But I think the song is somehow about leaving home -- or loving home.
We're leaving soon to drive up Ventura Highway to visit our daughter who goes to school at Santa Barbara. That part of California is fast becoming my favorite. There's something about the east-west lay of the land. It reminds me of the Italian Riviera: Liguria as the Italians call it. It's possible that the days are slightly longer there because sunrises and sunsets are unimpeded by land mass.
US 101 is also old El Camino Real. Ventura Freeway was so-named by Angelinos because it led them to Ventura, a once and still important seaport -- just like the San Diego Freeway took them south. And just like the Pasadena Freeway took them to Pasadena. All roads led from L.A.
Like the Appian Way, there isn't much left of the original El Camino Real. Here is a photo of what's left of the unpaved original:
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I was amused to learn that the song references "Purple Rain" long before Prince did. Hence the "misheard lyrics" tag. I can't even remember now what I heard instead all these years.
Cool - I had no idea that even 20 feet of the El Camino was extant. I took my youngest son to Rome and made him walk the Appian Way - boy, pay attention, this is the same road that blah blah blah and of course it wasn't, I mean it's in the same location but it's been redone a few times over the last 2,000 years.
I did find a stretch of cobble stone road in a nearby forest - that dates back to pre-Civil War times - I used to make a point to ride that on my mountain bike just because we were both still here.
Other AF brats you might have heard of: John Denver, Kris Kristofferson, Annie Leibovitz, Priscilla Presley, Victoria Principal, Bart Starr, Stephen Stills, Gore Vidal, Danny Wuerffel.
More bigger longer list here.
+ Army brats, Marine Brats, +other fer'ner military brats.
Bastards dint put my name on their silly list. Nor the musical brats that got up on stage to entertain us at the service clubs and activity centers at Tachikawa, Grant Heights, and Barksdale, Travis, and Edwards and Lowery. Those kids were really good too.
Ha! I did the same thing in Rome - made my then girlfriend, her sister and a male companion walk the Appian Way looking for paving stones.Somewhere at home I have old photos of this buonaventura..
We just crested Sepulveda Pass where Portola first glimpsed the San Fernando Valley. It’s a 10 lane freeway now.
Passing through Calabasa country now. Waving to Kardashians.
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