Song #1: Cheap Trick - "Surrender"

When I was a kid, up into middle school and freshman year, my dad and I would go to Worlds of Fun CONSTANTLY. We always got season passes. (To this day, my family has a tradition of renting a cabin in the WOF village the last weekend of October, to celebrate halloween/my birthday.)

I wouldn't bring anyone. It was just me and Dad. We rode all the coasters, the Mamba, the Patriot, the Prowler (well, that wasn't built till a few years ago, but still). Then we'd ride them again. We were (and are) coaster fanatics. Worlds of Fun is the best thing we've got in this area. (We actually drove to Six Flags, St. Louis, once. It was pretty fun, but not what we were used to. The lines spanned miles..)

The times that I spent with my dad were times that I could never trade for anything. He was my hero. We've ridden those roller coasters countless times together. It was a way in which we bonded. But it was the little things that bring this song, and others, to mind.

Once we went on a Sunday night. I was in 7th or 8th grade. It had looked like it was going to rain. We got to the park, and it started pouring. We stood in line at the Spinning Dragons, soaked. Finally, we rode it, and we rode one other ride a few times because it was an indoor ride.

At that point, my Dad found out that we were under a tornado watch. So we had to hit the road. We came home drenched, having only ridden a few rides, and still it's a memory that I'll hang on to forever.

When I was younger, 9 or 10, my dad and I would always compete to see who could spot the top of the Mamba from the highway. We would be listening to whatever his music happened to be. One song I'll always remember as our "Worlds of Fun" song is SURRENDER (LIVE) by CHEAP TRICK.

"This is next one! ....is, the FIRST song, on our newww album." Ah Cheap Trick. I never got into them, but that song became part of me. I always thought of sunny days where the air was filled with the crisp smell of warmed gravel underfoot. It was the Worlds of Fun smell. To this day, I could tell that smell immediately. Summer afternoons were spent soaring skyward then back to earth on trains with seats for two, four to a car. (The seat in the verrry back was the best...you went down the hill the fastest.)

"Mommy's alright. Daddy's alright. They just seem a little weird.
Surrender, surrender, but don't give yourself awayyyy...

...ayyyy....AAYYYYYAYAAAYYYYYY."

I paid no attention to the lyrics that I mindlessly sang in the car. All I knew when I heard it, was 'it's gonna be a great day.' I lived to ride roller coasters with my dad. It was the reason I left my house, other than school. I stayed home most of the time, recording songs in my basement, playing my guitar, or I'd be at Paul's house across the street. Those were my preteen years. And through all the confusion of that age and the misery it sometimes brought...I miss it. I miss it a lot.