Pink Champagne on Ice

The Phenomenon.

Whenever I am driving in my car for a journey lasting 15minutes (or so) or more, the following will ALWAYS occur:

I will hear one of two songs on the radio as I flip thorugh the stations:  Maggie May by Rod Stewart and\or Hotel California by the Eagles.

This is not a once-in-a-while thing, this is real.  An I don't have any real preset stations to speak of besides NPR and WERS (the emerson college radio station).  So this is random and cannot be attributed to any one particular radio station with a penchant for these songs.  It can also occur at any time of the day or night, so it isn't one particular DJ with a habit for Rod Stewart or The Eagles.

I have noticed that for the most part I am more likely to hear Maggie May in the Daytime hours (probably because of the line about the Sun really showing her age.  Also the music is bright and open and feels like sunshine.)  And Hotel California is more likely to be played during the evening hours (has a more cool and mysterious vibe and refers to nighttime.)  This is just a general predictor and sometimes it matters not a whit what hour it t, what the weather is doing or anything of the sort. 

Most often I hear one OR the other, but on several occasions I have heard both in one car journey~ and I'm not talking mega long road trips, I'm talking errands around town or drive to work or to the mall or to the movies or such.

I would also like to add that the likelihood of hearing "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey has increased at least tenfold since its resurgence in popularity attributed to its loving revival on the pilot episode of the hit show Glee.  Now I am likely to hear Don't Stop Believin' at least once every third car ride (of about 10-15 minutes or more). 

This is a theory that has been tried and tested and proven for the last several YEARS of my life people.  YEARS.  I thought I'd share it with the world (ahem) and see if anyone else has noticed this bizarre occurence, or if it is just me.  I had thought my luck might change if another is in the car, but Aaron has been witness to it.  It is less likely to come to fruition if he is in control of the radio dial, however, because he lingers over long on rap stations, which are never ever going to play either of those popular hits of a bygone day.

I should also like to add, for the record, that in the 9 o'clock hour on saturdays you will certainly be able to cath Billy Joel's Piano man on some station or other.  And on sunny days you will be very likely to hear Elton John's Crocodile Rock.

If you have satellite radio or listen to CDs or MP3s in the car, I am sorry, but you will not have experienced this magical, mystical phenomenon!

Give it a try sometime.

Oh, I abstain from commenting on the period of weeks between mid november and new year's day, where I become obsessed with christmas tunes and flip only between those stations comitted to bringing me all the sounds of the season.  I'm willing to bet the liklihood of hearing Maggie May and Hotel California decreases, but I have no empirical evidence to back it up.  Maybe someone who despises christmas tunes as much as I adore them can run the experiment for me this winter?