Summer Vacations and What Makes A Good Road Trip Song

Episode Transcript

*DISCLAIMER: Transcripts are created using AI, and may not accurately represent the content exactly as presented. Transcripts are provided as a courtesy to our listeners who require them.

[00:00:00] How to Support Queue Points

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[00:00:50] Opening Theme

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[00:01:21] Welcome to Queue Points Podcast

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DJ Sir Daniel: Greetings and welcome back to another episode of Queue Points podcast, dropping the needle on black music history. I am DJ. Sir. Daniel.

Jay Ray: And my name is Jay Ray, sometimes known by my government as Johnny Ray Cornegay, the third what's happening folks.

DJ Sir Daniel: I'll tell y'all what's happening.

[00:01:38] Jerk Chicken and Health Talk

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DJ Sir Daniel: What you didn't see before we came on the air was J Ray was chowing down, chowing down on, on some jerk chicken. But J Ray, um, I have to call you out on this. You were eating jerk chicken with no rice and peas.

Jay Ray: I

DJ Sir Daniel: up with that?

Jay Ray: was so, um, y'all, by the way, I love me a Walker's wood seasoning. Yo, my Jamaican folks, let me know if that's a, if that's a thing, if I'm like really being blasphemous by using it, but I love marinating in the mild version. Because the mild version is spicy. I don't know what the hot and spicy is. So I'm not I'm never eating that but um, so no, I didn't have any rice and peas because I try Not to have carbs with my dinner.

So I talked about this a couple of months ago. I've been Doing my best Look, I got my water doing my best to stay on track health wise. Um, I had to eat hotel food for three days. And so I didn't have any rice and peas, even though I love rice and peas. I would have just had to have it at lunch. So no, I did not have it with my dinner.

DJ Sir Daniel: Okay. I mean, that's a perfectly valid explanation because your health is a state, but for the rest of us, we're not barebacking, um, jerk chicken without some rice and peas. It's just not happening.

[00:03:10] Hurricane Season and Safety

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DJ Sir Daniel: And speaking of Jamaica and all of the Caribbean, you know, we are praying for your safety. Um, during this hurricane season, Hurricane Beryl, by the time this, uh, airs, uh, hopefully, um, Beryl would have, you know, moved on and dissipated, but we are praying for everybody's safety in the West Indies and the Caribbean islands, especially Grenada, Curacao, and, um, um, St.

Kitts and little martinique a lot of those places got really hit hard Uh barbados as well. I see all the videos and whatnot. So it's just it's that time of year It's that season and um, yeah, we just praying for everybody's safety and i'm pretty certain whatever um Whatever initiatives are being taken place in your city, the, uh, for outreach and help, you know, please look out for that and see, and just see what you can do if your heart is moved to do it. But, um, and that's just one of the things about the, the summer season. The summertime is about vacations and getting away. And a lot of times Jerry people don't want to fly. Too far off destinations. A lot of times here in the United States, a lot of people just want to, uh, hop in a vehicle and drive to the nearest town or coastal town or their hometown or wherever it is that they want to explore and go.

[00:04:36] Summer Road Trip Music

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DJ Sir Daniel: On the highways and byways of this country, Jerry, this episode, we're talking about summer road trip music, but before we get into the meat and potatoes of meat and potatoes, meat and potatoes of this conversation, um, let's clue in the folks that might just might just so happen to be looking, listening to our key points for the very first time and just get a school them a little bit of how they can become subscribers and let them know about the merchandise as well.

Jay Ray: Absolutely. So first thing y'all need to know is Queue Points is great for your summer road trips. So make sure that you cue us up in your playlist as you are road tripping throughout the summer

DJ Sir Daniel: what you did

Jay Ray: See what I did there, you know Queue Points So even if you're listening to us on your summer road trip, let us know we want to know Tell us where you at take a picture at Queue Points pod.

Let us know But if this is your first time here and you're just getting clued in Thank you so much for being here. Thank you to everyone who's tuning in either whether listening or watching You Hit the subscribe button wherever you are. If you haven't hit that button, go ahead and hit it. It helps us to keep building Queue Points.

[00:05:47] Growing Queue Points Community

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Jay Ray: One of the biggest things that Sir Daniel and I have been seeing is we've been seeing our audience grow. We are up 84 percent over last

DJ Sir Daniel: Thank you, thank you.

Jay Ray: Thank y'all so much for just like tuning into the show. So hit subscribe, share the show with your friends, family, colleagues. If you are into Queue Points, chances are they will really enjoy Queue Points as well.

So make sure that you share it. And if you were in the car with them, you know what I'm saying? Talk back to us. You know what I'm saying? This is what this is for, right? Last two things. Visit our website, Queue Points. com. You can sign up for our newsletter. You can also read our magazine, uh, Queue Points Mag. And if you want to help keep the lights on in Queue Points land, you can shop our store at store.

Queue Points. com. Those are all the different ways that you can stay connected to us. We appreciate y'all any way y'all decide to do so.

DJ Sir Daniel: Yes. And we thank you once again for that growth. It's, it's a beautiful thing to witness, but like I said, Jay Ray, um, this summer, 75%, 75% of the population, at least 212 million of y'all adults are going to drive or use driving as your method of summer travel. And, and I can see that it's, it's relatively, it's relatively inexpensive.

You know, if you have enough people that are chipping for gas, we'll say it's relatively inexpensive. Um, I, you know, but road trips are generally fun.

[00:07:25] Memorable Road Trips

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DJ Sir Daniel: Like right off the top of your head. Can you recall the last or the best road trip that you've been on Jerry?

Jay Ray: Best road trip. You know, the, the road trip. So, let me take a step back. Um, I have a lot of road trip memories because as a kid. Um, my dad would pile us into whatever car we were driving or that he had rented in the eighties. And we would drive eight hours from our, uh, from Chester to North Carolina, um, or South Carolina.

Uh, so it was 10 hours to South. Uh, it was eight hours to North and we would do that every summer. And so I was very familiar with like the road trip. I grew up road tripping, right? My favorite road trip, though, actually is not from when I was a kid. It is from summer 1999. Um, myself. Leon and James hopped in Leon's dad's Chevy minivan.

I can't remember the name of it. And we drove to Atlanta for Pride. Black Gay Pride 1999. That was my second time in Atlanta. And we were driving a white minivan down the highway. And we were Today and yo, I will never forget. So that was the summer The writings on the wall was real hot that summer So it was a lot of destiny's child happening in the car Which is really interesting for me and leon because we both are like have very eclectic music tastes So you would hear a little bit of everything but I do remember bugaboo playing a lot We were apparently really into that joy

DJ Sir Daniel: Bugaboo was a

jam.

Jay Ray: Right

DJ Sir Daniel: And what I like most about Bugaboo now is that when you listen to it, they're running off a bunch of names of companies that don't

Jay Ray: That don't exist anymore and saying things people are like what is this song even about i'm like listen

DJ Sir Daniel: My AOL,

Jay Ray: aol make my email stop like what?

DJ Sir Daniel: Hilarious. I can, one of my most memorable, um, road trips was, um, the journey my mother and I took from St. Petersburg, Florida, to New York. It was amazing. Memorable because I was only 15 and I had just gotten, I think, okay. So in the state of Florida, I could get a, I had a license, but it was restricted. And I had to be in the vehicle, driving in the vehicle with an adult in order to be operating the vehicle.

And so we had packed up all our belongings, you know, There was some life changes. We packed up all our belongings and it was a Buick, um, four door. Uh, I want to say,

Jay Ray: Was it the century? Was it the Regal? Was it the the Big John? Was it the Park Avenue? Okay

DJ Sir Daniel: was the regal and you know, God bless her. My mom, she tried to drive as much as she could, but my mom really is one of those people that does not do well driving on expressways. She cannot handle it. 15 year old me was like, bet I got this.

Jay Ray: Ah You like I got this mom

DJ Sir Daniel: And, you know, despite all her fears and trepidation, she was, you know, nervously, um, let me drive the, I mean, the majority of the road trip I drove, I drove from St. Petersburg, Florida to New York city. And I'll never forget when we got to New York. I could, there was a clear difference in the way people were driving.

Um, she, matter of fact, she made me stop and pull over because she was just like, nah, you can't handle this. Cause these, you know, New York drivers are different. It was a different speed. And, and I did, I did really well music wise. What I can remember because that was 1990 summer of 91. I want to say, um, and we didn't.

Have a fancy cassette recorder. It was just the radio,

Jay Ray: Yeah.

DJ Sir Daniel: every different city I would manage to, I would spin the dial to manage and find the hip hop and R and B station. And I recall there were at least three songs that followed us from city to city. Color me beds. Um,

Jay Ray: to sex you up

DJ Sir Daniel: me,

Jay Ray: I adore Mia Moore.

DJ Sir Daniel: uh, Jomanda's got a love for you.

And,

Jay Ray: me now.

DJ Sir Daniel: and, um, Vanessa. Was it vanessa poppin

Jay Ray: 91 was the comfort zone year. So

DJ Sir Daniel: Yeah, Vanessa Williams, um, running back to you. So I recall those three songs vividly following us from city to city as we traveled from the bottom, as they call it, all the way to New York and that, yeah, to this day, road trips are very special. It's a great time to bond with the people that you're riding with, or if you're rolling solo, you know, just, uh, that's a, that's an experience in and of itself.

I took, I drove, you know, that drive from Atlanta to Savannah is four hours, but that is four of the longest hours

Jay Ray: not much to see, right?

DJ Sir Daniel: there's a stretch on I 16. It's nothing but trees. Nothing but trees.

Jay Ray: So, to that point. So, you know this. I have driven. I love road trips. I, to this, I'm actually going to be on a road trip at the end of this month. Um, we're going to the family, going to the family reunion in South Carolina and I'm taking my mom, but, um, so I would do Atlanta to Philly a lot. I have a story there.

I'm going to tell you that story in a second, but I will say another to that bonding piece. 2005

So this is right after Katrina, maybe within the week or two after Katrina. It's that fresh.

DJ Sir Daniel: Yeah. Yeah.

It's August.

Jay Ray: yes, August, it was, it was, uh, August, early September was hot. I flew home to drive my. parents and my grandfather. I literally flew home to drive them to a family reunion.

DJ Sir Daniel: Hmm.

Mm

Jay Ray: was so special about this was, uh, my grandfather, I had never taken a road trip with my, my dad's dad.

I had never taken a road trip with, uh, a real road trip with either, with any of my grandparents, for real. So. My dad's dad and I relationship wasn't super close. It wasn't strained. It just wasn't close. You know what I'm saying? Although my grandfather, my dad's dad did save me from choking. I have a deathly fear of choking, uh, from this one time where I literally could have died and he gave me the Heimlich maneuver.

I still remember it. Anyway, I got to drive my grandfather to North Carolina. Ooh, Sir Daniel, the stories I got to learn how they, how he met my grandmother. I got to learn how he and my grandmother fell out. Like I got to learn how all of the family like kind of met each other, like in the town that we were going to.

It was the best. time for me to just learn all of this stuff. And he said, so my mom said way in the back, I rented a van. I don't know why I rented a van. I'm glad I rented a van though. Cause he had like his own seat and he was sitting back. He was like, I'm good grandson. He sounded just like my dad. And so he sat there and would just talk to me the whole time.

And we were driving. My dad was actually sitting in the passenger side, sleep, which I knew I could drive because my dad was knocked out.

DJ Sir Daniel: You know, you're doing a good job when your parent is knocked

out.

Jay Ray: Yeah, so I just wanted to talk about like that bonding time of being able to if you have the opportunity to road trip

with people who you know, or you're trying to get to know. For the most part, unless it's like awkward and weird. Road tripping is super fun. Last thing I wanted to say, um, I took a great road trip, always got my music pumping, but GPS, I was driving back and it was snowing and GPS was like, traffic is happening.

You should get off, baby. Okay. I was driving through the mountains of Virginia. Not fun. You. Nope. Nope. I lost cell phone reception. I lost in the mountains of Virginia.

DJ Sir Daniel: That's where the wrong turn is based off. Yeah. And

Jay Ray: no. I

DJ Sir Daniel: of any, hop out of any bushes or anything, but you made it obviously.

Jay Ray: did.

DJ Sir Daniel: And so, and so that's the thing. So like you were saying, um, road trips can be a balance of conversation and tunes. You know,

Jay Ray: Definitely.

DJ Sir Daniel: it's a balance.

It's a balance depend, like you said, depending on who you're riding with. Um, All of our journeys, all our best journey seems to have taken place, like, in the yesteryears, right? I was 1990, um, your family road trips.

[00:18:00] Evolution of Car Audio

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DJ Sir Daniel: Jared, that makes me think about, like, how much car vehicle technology has advanced over the years.

It's crazy to think that there was a time One, whether we didn't have to put on a seat belt, they just slung us in the back seat of the car and said, hold on,

Jay Ray: Oh, no, your parents, they have to stop. They'll put their arm out.

DJ Sir Daniel: put it in the back to stop. Yep. Yep. Or, and there weren't individual seats. There was the all together

Jay Ray: bucket seats. And when you had to move it up, you'd be like, let's go. One, two.

DJ Sir Daniel: All together now. Yep, exactly. Well, and the music in the car was the same way. There was a time when cars only had radios. If they had radios and those radios may only have had an am dial

Jay Ray: I can't imagine that. I would be like, sir,

DJ Sir Daniel: Lots of talk radio. Oh my God. I can't even imagine. Then from radio, we progressed to the eight track. They had eight track players installed in them in vehicles. Then the eight tracks became a little too bulky. So then they, they minimized it to the cassette players

Jay Ray: what a time we had. Remember when it would auto reverse? Bruh!

DJ Sir Daniel: you know what the real flex was.

Remember when, um, You could take your, you could take your, um, cassette player out of the car because, you know,

people

Jay Ray: Because people would steal it, so you had to pop that baby out!

DJ Sir Daniel: looked like a little, um, mini lunchbox. It was a big component. And then, um, but then that got even smaller when CDs were introduced. And CD players, now you could do the same thing when you took off the, um, the face, the faceplate of your CD player, which I don't think, well, I guess it does make sense,

Jay Ray: huh.

DJ Sir Daniel: but, and now we've evolved from CD players to just straight up Bluetooth systems.

Jay Ray: So question for you. To that point, Sir Daniel. Um, how did you What did you prefer? Like, was it, um I have fond memories of all of these. Especially, like, cassettes and CDs. Now I would I never want to listen to cassettes again me personally they just sound terrible but um So I prefer cds just from a sound perspective.

But what about you like, what do you prefer? from like a sound perspective

DJ Sir Daniel: listen, I have had quite the vehicle journey. I went from having, uh, my very first car was an 86 Ford LTD

Jay Ray: Oh, that's a big john, too

DJ Sir Daniel: powder blue with a big ole orange rust stain over one of the eyes of the headlights. So they, so you know, when I would pull up in the, in the school parking lot, um, the kids would be like, ah, the goose is loose, the blue goose is loose.

And, um, But yeah, I remember, I think I said this before on here. I remember being stuck in frequent traffic and only had a radio,

Jay Ray: do

DJ Sir Daniel: a radio. So when I, whenever I got another vehicle and it had a cassette player, I felt like I was Gucci. I thought I was so good. And then my mom gave me her, um, I can't remember what year that thing is, but it was a Mitsubishi Diamante.

Jay Ray: Uh huh.

DJ Sir Daniel: See multi, multiple CD player, mind you. So, you know, I was like, Oh, that's a big deal. But Jerry guess where the CD player was located

Jay Ray: exactly where it was.

DJ Sir Daniel: in the frigging trunk. If you all remember that foolishness of it was ridiculous. So remember in the CD days, we already had, I'm sure most of y'all had those humongous Bible

Jay Ray: Oh, hell

yeah.

DJ Sir Daniel: collectors

Jay Ray: CDs, it was fat.

DJ Sir Daniel: Huge, huge, um, things to keep your CDs in. Or if you were conservative, you had it in the, in the visor. They had the CD thing

Jay Ray: But you had to curate the visor though. It's like, I only need these 12.

DJ Sir Daniel: So it's like, if I took the time to put the CDs into the, the multi disc player in the trunk, I had to make absolutely certain, like I was good with those CDs for a minute, or at least for this journey that I was about to go on.

Because once I get there. Or once I start moving, I'm not going back there and changing CDs. It's just like, it's, that's too much hassle. I hated, I absolutely hated that aspect of having a, um, of that multi disc CD changer, but it was in the back. Now I will say it was a. Hmm. Did you ever have your CD, CD Walkman and use the, and have the cassette,

Jay Ray: Absolutely.

DJ Sir Daniel: That was a time also. that was,

Jay Ray: the time.

DJ Sir Daniel: had to, because you had to make sure it was placed somewhere where it was stable and didn't move around a whole bunch.

Jay Ray: Anti, um, I remember the anti skip technology that was a big deal. I found that sony had like the best Anti skip tech in there, but you're right I remember used to um, I used to have to place it kind of in between me and the passenger seat like under the armrest Because it was like stable there like it could sit there and not move

DJ Sir Daniel: Man, and if that, if that messed up, if the, the ox, the, the cassette player mixed messed up, you had to, I'm just not going any, I have to stop and buy another one because I have to have tunes while I'm writing. I have to, but we, but you all, I'm sure had the same, The same deals to deal with as far as making sure the music was right while you were driving.

[00:24:02] Modern Road Trip Vehicles

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DJ Sir Daniel: But Jerry, this time of the year when people are taking these road trips, sometimes it's best not to even fool with your own vehicle. Um, but sometimes it's best to rent a vehicle. And Jay Ray, you and I have recently had some experiences where we've had like a one rental car experiences with particular vehicles and you know, because we are a music show, of course the sound and everything was particularly important to us.

So Jay Ray, what was the vehicle that you, um, rode

in?

Jay Ray: Yeah. So, um, the last long road trip that I took was, um, about 12 hours, South Carolina again, and, um, I drove a. Ford Explorer. So this is last year. Um, the Ford Explorer had the latest in, um, the Ford sync system, which is actually one of my favorite kind of, um, multimedia systems in a car. It's very easy to use.

Um, I had a, um, Ford brand car for a long time. So I'm really, and what's crazy is even though the system is like all upgraded, like all the commands are the same. So I could talk to the car pretty easily, but to your point, The sound like, um, because they're kind of big behemoths of SUVs. I was gliding number one, which is dope and everything sounded so crisp.

Like I could still hear the people talking in the back, but I could also really clearly hear the music coming across and it just sounded really good. Um, so yeah, I highly recommend it. If you can rent a Ford Explorer, rent one. They're really cozy. Which, what did you rent? Mm

DJ Sir Daniel: recently the fellas, um, we took a trip to North Carolina, uh, Winston Salem to be exact, and they, when we pulled up to the rental place, they had a 20, 24 brand new Mitsubishi Outlander. So a new Mitsubishi, different experience because we're not filming with CD players anymore, 2024

Jay Ray: They're not nowhere near to be found.

DJ Sir Daniel: and not to be found. And so I.

Um, that was my first time experiencing Android auto and it was

like,

Jay Ray: Ain't it magic?

DJ Sir Daniel: it's so dope. Once my phone is connected, it was like the GPS was all on one screen. I could have a little, another little window with the music on it because I still, I still keep my music on me. Like my music is in, I download it to my phone.

And. Everything was on there. And like you said, I could just speak to it. And so Mitsubishi Outlander had Android auto, but it also had for the people in the car that had iPhones, it had the Apple CarPlay system. Now you want to talk about fire sound system. It was all bowls. So, you know, it was really, we were in there kind of thumping, but what we needed to turn it down and, you know, It was nice.

It was just a really nice car system. And sometimes depending on the sound, you don't even want to give it back. It's like, wow, this is really nice. I like how my music sounds in here. And it makes the road all for a better road trip, for sure, because you don't have to worry about looking at your phone.

You don't have to. All of it is right there on the screen for you to. Manipulate the GPS or manipulate the music. And like you said, sometimes you don't even have to touch that. You can just talk to it and it just follows your command.

Jay Ray: Yeah, so to that point, and especially with you being a DJ, um, how do you deal with who controls the music? Like, what are your rules? What are Sir Daniel's rules about who controls the music and when?

DJ Sir Daniel: It's a very simple rule. Whoever's driving is in charge of the music.

Jay Ray: That is exactly the way I believe if you are driving you're responsible for the music now if you give up that responsibility That is fine, but I follow the same rule. I'm driving. I'm listening to what I want to listen to Hang on to your hats kids

DJ Sir Daniel: You're going to, you're going to enjoy this, um, this beat box solo by Baby D or whoever you're going to enjoy that for the next five minutes while we coasting down the highway.

[00:28:24] Curating Road Trip Playlists

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DJ Sir Daniel: But to that point of, you know, who's in charge of the aux cord, like we were saying earlier, when we were dealing with cassettes and CDs, Jerry, that meant we had to curate lists.

And a lot of times that did, that was not a short process. Because with the cassettes, you had to have a dual cassette recorder or, and if you would, if we're moving up to the early, to the late nineties, early two thousands, you had to have some type of CD burner program on your computer

Jay Ray: That It's so crazy when you reflect on that now, cause I forgot about that. So clearly there was a period, I didn't get my first computer. This is crazy to say, but I didn't get my first computer until 1998. So that means I was road tripping through periods of time where cassettes I could work out cause there were cars started to have both cassette players and CD players at the time.

But, You would have that big old Bible of CDs that you would have to just put in whatever it is that you was going to put in. And for a little bit, like it wasn't easy to just like, I'm gonna play this one song on this one CD, pop it out. And then put in another one you're driving, you don't have time to do that.

Right. So you're going to like this CD, right. For as long as you're going to like it. Um, but yeah, you're right. It was much harder. It was easier to curate on cassette, but overall just generally much harder because if you had the double tape, like some of the stuff you wanted on the cassette was on the CD.

Some of the stuff you wanted on the cassette was on the cassette. So you had to like, Oh, strategically figure out what this was going to be.

DJ Sir Daniel: going back and forth and, oh, and let's not even talk about the, um, the LimeWire days,

Jay Ray: That was a time. We should probably just do a time when

DJ Sir Daniel: LimeWire show. Yeah.

Jay Ray: LimeWire, Napster, all

DJ Sir Daniel: All of that stuff because I think that I guess that did make it easier for you to burn cds But it's still

Jay Ray: You said to take time though.

DJ Sir Daniel: had to take time and and listen those cds took up a lot of space It was the big spool Like if you spent spend the money to get the big spool of cds so that you could have it Because you know you were just that You know, that whatever whim came over you to make a new, um, CD of mix, you had to have them available.

So you could burn it onto the, um, onto the CD and for whatever ride or whatever, whatever struck your fancy at that time, or you've been making CDs for somebody or all kinds of

Jay Ray: Oh my god. What's interesting and maybe I'll find a way to share this with the Queue Points family. Two, two mixed CDs I'll never forget. I visited home and my brother, I love it when other people would make me mix CDs. So Joshua, my best friend, Joshua would make me mix stuff often. He, I have several mixes on Spotify that he's made for me that I still play to this day.

But my brother, Made me I had visited home at some point and he made me a mix. It was called John, John car mix That shit was hot. That mix was hot

DJ Sir Daniel: Well, I mean, it was by the Disco Disciples, so of course it

was going

Jay Ray: It was by Disco Disciple. It was, it was nothing but bangers on Jon Jon car mix. And he made it so that I could drive back home and have a mix that I could play.

And I remember that mix. So that was in the probably, Um, 2011, 2012, which are probably the final years that I made like CD mixes because I will find a way to do this. My last, I made a series called the John, I think, of course, why not? Cause I'm from here and it was, um, I think I ended up doing five of them actually, and I still have those mixes.

I digitize those mixes. Yeah.

DJ Sir Daniel: Oh,

Jay Ray: I'll find a way to put them so that our folks can um, see what, what I was, what I was doing. But um, number four ended up being really popular. It was my dance mix. I think I called it like disco balls and something else or whatever.

[00:32:56] The Art of Curating Playlists

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Jay Ray: But a lot of people wanted that. I burned that joint like a lot for a lot of other people.

What was your famous, did you have a famous mix back in those days?

DJ Sir Daniel: I didn't have a famous mix. I didn't have, I just had playlists because all the playlists were like specifically for me. And now what I was doing, what I did have the opportunity to do was I would get a lot of, um, CDs because I was working two places. I was working at HMV record store and I was working at the radio station.

So I was inundated with CDs. I would get like. All stuff that was just about to come on the radio. I would give this the CD single with the instrumental, all of that stuff. And I'm not, it got to a point where I can't carry all of this stuff with me in the truck, in the car. And cause I had a Buick LeSabre by that point.

And I was just not, so that was like, okay, I'm just going to compile all these songs, the songs that I, the dopest stuff that I want and put it all on one CD so I could just minimize the amount of. Junk I was carrying around because it was a lot.

[00:34:09] The Evolution of Music Consumption

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DJ Sir Daniel: You got you, you know, you generation, you young generation, you, you got it so good.

You don't understand. You don't understand. You, you have the freedom of not being cluttered by a bunch of CDs and cassettes. Now you have places like Pandora or Spotify, even YouTube. YouTube can curate a playlist for you, or there are already playlists specifically made for road trips on these platforms.

And I'm like, you know what? Sometimes if you don't even want to think about it, you just say, Hey, you just make use of voice control. And one of the platforms can curate something for you while you are on the road and that's okay for people that are okay with giving up that kind of control.

Jay Ray: Absolutely. That's not for everybody. I will say as a, as a person who's really into, um, control, I have found that, um, all of these platforms in many ways have figured out based on what you're listening to, what is a good follow. Just the other day. Uh, YouTube music did a dope flow of a playlist. Like I was just in the car and, and I was like, oh my God, that's a banger.

That's a banger too. This is a banger. I, it was so good I saved that playlist. 'cause you can, it allows you to go back and save what it had played so far. Um, bunch of nineties and eighties joints.

[00:35:42] The Perfect Road Trip Song

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Jay Ray: I'll find a way to post that too so that people can you know have access to it um But sir, daniel, i'm curious so the thing about road trips is There are certain songs that just work Really well For road trips, so i'm curious for you What is what makes a good road trip?

Song like what's your what's your thing?

DJ Sir Daniel: Well, Jerry, I'm glad you asked that question because, you know, I fancy myself the ox god, I, I think

Jay Ray: a ux god

DJ Sir Daniel: Exactly. And, and as a DJ, of course, I think, um, you know, I'm the best at curating your music for you, but Jayra, I boiled it down to a science. I believe that there are three major components to making a great road trip song or what makes a song road trip worthy.

And it's just three simple components. One, it's gotta, the, the lyrics gotta be easy, easy lyrics to sing along to or rap along to and something, and preferably something that you feel like you can apply to yourself. Like, you know, although like return of the mat,

Jay Ray: Ah!

DJ Sir Daniel: people feel about that song, but you're saying you can sing it in first person, right?

You can sing or, um, uh, Snoop and Dr. Dre, 1, 2, 3, and to the ow.

Jay Ray: Snoop Doggy Dog and

DJ Sir Daniel: See what I'm saying?

Jay Ray: dough.

DJ Sir Daniel: At the dow. And so it's, it's super simple. Go ahead, go

ahead.

Jay Ray: No, and, um, Cross generation too because the cool thing about these songs that we're talking about is especially when you think about My dad was rapping. My dad was so into like snoop and nothing but a g thing and all of that stuff So he could rap it too Yes,

DJ Sir Daniel: that have, are duets or have multiple lead singers. Yes. Automatically, so what this does, it allows you, it allows for passenger interaction that, you know, so that everybody feels that they can be involved and that way, you know, you don't feel left out, especially the driver.

The driver needs to stay awake. I need the driver to be alert. So if that means we're gonna, we're gonna sing. You know, a song comes to mind, Jerry, uh, Womack and Womack, Baby, I'm Scared of You, because it starts off real, well, uh, it starts off real calm, and then it kind of crescendos,

Jay Ray: you start grooving

DJ Sir Daniel: the man is singing to the woman, the woman is singing to the man, it's the perfect road trip song.

I can understand that, baby. I can't understand. And you know, you're singing back and forth to each other. And next thing, you know, an hour has gone by and y'all are just singing at the top of your lungs and just enjoying a road trip. Number three, drama. A great A song, a great road trip song has to have some type of story arc or lyrics that you can pantomime to, you know, especially rap lyrics, you know, kick in the doorway, then the full full

Jay Ray: Papa

DJ Sir Daniel: hit me no more.

Oh, one of my favorites is, um, little Kim's on dot.

Jay Ray: I don't know. Little Kim's aunt died.

DJ Sir Daniel: You don't know. I'm dot my on dot. That's a glock and some blood on the sheets told me clean this shit up. Left me peace, wack ass caliber nickel plated with the sounds to what?

What's

Jay Ray: see. The things you learn!

DJ Sir Daniel: And it's such a, it's such a great narratives. It's a great, um, first person narration story that Kim is telling. And then she does other voices and, you know, she does the aunt dot voice and whatnot.

It's a story. So don't. And even if you think about Bohemian Rhapsody by

Jay Ray: Oh, great road trip song. I mean, there's nothing. Yeah. I agree. So the drama you're right because the drama and the story does add stuff that you can one you always learn something new if you listen to some of those songs and it gives people once again a chance to kind of play off of it because if somebody does a particular voice in that song because it has multiple parts and as dramatic you can have a good time I like that

DJ Sir Daniel: don't let there be like, um, a monologue in the

beginning of

Jay Ray: right

DJ Sir Daniel: like an old, like an old Millie Jackson song, you know, just, yeah. So that's, that's my formula for what makes a great song. road trip song. If you're listening to this, please let us know what you think makes a great road trip song or what you think are awesome road trip songs.

Because I would love to know what you think are great road trip songs.

Jay Ray: Yes, um, to that point, I was actually thinking about, um, road tripping from that perspective. And one song that came on today, and I knew that we were going to do this show, Everything She Wants by Wham! is a great road trip song. You got the, Somebody. Everybody could sing at the top of their lungs.

DJ Sir Daniel: And you can, and you can pantomime playing the keyboards, the don't don't don't don't don't don't don't don't don't. You can put pantomime, all of that. And the, all the, um, the adlibs, the,

Jay Ray: Yeah

DJ Sir Daniel: You know what? 80s was a generation of great road trip music.

Jay Ray: yes

DJ Sir Daniel: There's no

denying

Jay Ray: points object of my desire is a great road one and these are up songs that like Give you energy

DJ Sir Daniel: Jefferson airplane. We built this

Jay Ray: We built this city by Jefferson. Airplane is a bop question. Okay, sir. Daniel. So what are your feelings about? Cause I don't like this kind of carrying on everybody falling asleep while you drive in.

I need somebody while I'm driving. I need somebody with me while I'm driving. Now I might be fully awake. It's not about the awake part. It is. I just want somebody. I want somebody to talk to.

DJ Sir Daniel: it's courteous. It's just plain courtesy is plain etiquette for somebody to stay awake while the driver is driving. You are absolutely right. I don't know who raised y'all. One of y'all is supposed to stay awake and keep the driver company. And I'm saying this because typically I end up being the one that does all the driving.

I always, I'm the, I'm the DD. I am the one that does most of the driving for the road trips. So one of y'all going to have to stay with me.

Jay Ray: Mm hmm.

DJ Sir Daniel: So when we come back, I really enjoyed this conversation because it brought back a lot of memories, but I, like I said, I want to hear, we want to hear from you all about your road trip memories.

Drop us an email, drop us a message, a comment. Uh, at the bottom of this, um, or this, uh, this episode and let us know. And, um, Jerry, I think we're going to, we should release like a YouTube playlist or something.

Jay Ray: Absolutely. We've got to give the people something that they can road trip to because it's that time of year. So

DJ Sir Daniel: So you're going to have a, a Queue Points road trip playlist for you coming up very soon.

[00:43:25] Final Thoughts and Closing

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Jay Ray: Our YouTube comments have been amazing. It's been really dope seeing y'all comment on the YouTube.

DJ Sir Daniel: We can tell who's watched the shows and who hasn't, but go ahead.

Jay Ray: we absolutely can. I feel like they ain't watch the show because they wouldn't comment that if they

DJ Sir Daniel: They wouldn't have said that,

Jay Ray: they wouldn't have said that. But, um, uh, visit us on our website, Queue Points. com, join the newsletter, sign up for Queue PointsMag.

That is awesome. Um, and shop our store, store. Queue Points. com. And just in general, just thank y'all for rocking with your boys. We appreciate y'all so much.

DJ Sir Daniel: Absolutely. Thank you.

very much. And what I always say, J Ray, in this life, you have a choice. You can either pick up the needle or you can let the record play. I am DJ Sir Daniel.

Jay Ray: My name is Jay Ray, y'all.

DJ Sir Daniel: And this has been Queue Points podcast, dropping the needle on black music history. We will see you on the next go round and happy trails out there y'all and be safe.

Jay Ray: Peace, y'all!

[00:44:30] Closing Theme

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