"When I Was Young, Life Was Such A Gas..."

I'm sure many of you are pulling your hair out now(or in my case, gray hairs - the more I pull out, the happier I will be!) from watching the sudden hiking of the gas prices. Rumor has it they may go up as much as 60 cents by the time the summer arrives! Instead of getting more depressed with the present situation, why don't we go back over 30 years and take a somewhat humorous listen to how the gas situation used to be?

The year was 1979. During that summer, many of us sat in long lines at the gas stations due to a major oil crisis. We bided our time in our Pintos(or a forest green station wagon for yours truly) by discussing with our buddies what disco records we were going to bring to Comiskey Park for a "barbeque," what medicines could cure a stomach ache from a 6 pack of Billy Beer, what tools could pry a melted "Helen Reddy's Greatest Hits" 8 track cartridge from the dashboard, and what a bright future the TV show "240 Robert" was going to have(I don't know about you, but I liked Joanna Cassidy).

Some of you may have rushed out and bought a copy of the below minor charter by a group of British comedians called The Barron Knights. "The Topical Song" parodied a Supertramp classic and reminded us how frustrating it was to fill up the car tank back then. I know times were different, but c'mon...I'd welcome back a dollar a gallon with someone washing my windshield and checking my oil if it meant dealing with the frustration of waiting an hour to get to the full serve island!

Was that summer a "gas" for you too? If so, then keep your ears open for this long-forgotten comedy tune here on The Retro Attic!

This "Topped Off" At #70 In 9/79