"Crank It" Songs: REO Speedwagon's "Take It on the Run"

"Heard it from a friend who

heard it from a friend who

heard it from another

you been messin' around..."

There are just some songs that play on the radio (especially XM's Classic Rewind, channel 49) where I have to crank it. I am forced by nostalgia to turn the volume up as high as I can without disturbing the the other classrooms around me.

This morning's "Crank It" song is REO Speedwagon's "Take It on the Run." Back in the glory days of 1981 our Mesick High School football team had won its first game of the season, after successive 1-8 and 0-9 seasons. Our coach, Bill Hollenbeck, had thought to inspire us by playing college fight songs on his stereo system, which inspired us to ask if we could play something else. The first cassette we played (yes, kids, before there were CDs) was REO's "Hi Infidelity." The locker room was rocking out and we killed the team we were playing that night. Rock music won out over college fight songs for the rest of the season, and we went 6-3. It was the first winning season in years in Mesick football.