Connections

Doug, in a comment on my memorial to Bob Wilson, said that we could fill a blog with Bob stories and I agree. I won't bore you with multiple Bob stories, but I will tell this one.

During the week before Bob died, I was working in California and Bob emailed me to suggest that I give him an email on the weekend if I had some time to talk.

On Saturday afternoon, while at work, I started thinking about the old song, 1952 Vincent Black Lightning, and the tune just popped into my head. I hadn't thought about this song since I did a post on it more than a year ago. Here is a cover video of it by Reckless Kelly where the words are pretty easy to understand.



At the end of the workday, I bowed out of dinner with the other guys and went to my room with the idea of talking to Bob. Since the hotel phone is so expensive, I sent him an email to call me at the hotel and found myself perusing the internet for different versions of the Vincent Black Lightning song.

Of course, I never got a call from Bob, he was already gone.

The last verse of the song is when the James, the motorcycle rider is dying. The lyrics to the song go,

Says James "In my opinion, there's nothing in this world
Beats a 52 Vincent and a red headed girl.
Now Nortons and Indians and Greeves won't do,
Ah, they don't have a soul like a Vincent 52"
Oh he reached for her hand and he slipped her the keys
Said "I've got no further use for these.
I see angels on Ariels in leather and chrome,
Swooping down from heaven to carry me home"
And he gave her one last kiss and died
And he gave her his Vincent to ride.

I think Bob would have rather seen angels on Guzzis or Ducatis, an Ariel is close enough.