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For the first lost hit profiled on this blog, let's do some rumblin' - down in the seat area!
You might say this great song by the legendary rocker from Seymour, Indiana, is our signature lost hit. It has to be featured here on principle. With a title like "Rumbleseat", you can see exactly where this story is headed.
At the time, everyone thought the name of the song had something to do with flatulence. As we slogged through our chores that summer, it became inevitable that at least once each day, "Rumbleseat" would start crackling across the airwaves. So it became a matter of policy for people to have a good, loud clap of flatus saved up for when it aired.
Remember, this was 1986. I recall the entire year being one big, long, nasty fart. It was as hilarious as you might imagine. This was the same summer as a family vacation to Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., that was defined by the ceaseless flatulence. We were in one of the Smithsonian museums when my mom declared, "It smells like somebody has a load in their pants!" Maybe someone did, but I don't know.
But as we did our home chores, some people didn't appreciate the custom of loudly passing gas whenever "Rumbleseat" came on. Some folks have no sense of humor. You could be rolling on the floor in uncontrollable laughter at this ritual, while some spoilsport could be scowling and shaking their fist at it. I could never figure out why some people were such killjoys.
Not long after that, in one of my 8th grade classes, I received an assignment in which the word rumbleseat was actually used. It was in a list of words that nobody used anymore, along with snood and milliner. Our assignment was to ask elderly relatives the meaning of each word. Today's middle schoolers probably find rumbleseat on their assignments and have to ask my generation what it means. Everyone knows exactly how to reply.
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