Penchant for Penning: Throwback Thursday December 17, 2015

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Throwback Thursday December 17, 2015 – Swampwater, yum

Oops! Missed Wordplay Wednesday! Let’s have fun with a Throwback Thursday Wordplay!

“Back in the day,” let’s say 1950s – 1970s, A&W Root Beer gave Coke and Pepsi a run for the money. Roy W. Allen – the “A” in A&W – opened his first roadside root beer stand in Lodi, California (1919).

Yep, that’s just down the road from Modesto – which gave us American Graffiti, complements of George Lucas’s memories of 1962.

Let me take you back ♪… to a simpler time of A&W drive-in restaurants, car hops and Swamp rock!

How did you drink your A&W Root Beer? I mixed mine up ...

SWAMPWATER: Half A&W Root Beer and half Orange Drink [back in the day, only Orange Crush would do as the mixer].

So where were you in ’62 ... or as this long ago drive-in car hop recalls, 1967...

That original A&W beverage stand blossomed into one of the first franchised restaurants in the US. (The whole fun history – and where the “W” came from – is available on Wiki.)

An East San Francisco Bay Area A&W circa 1960s

Oh – you caught my personal reference to car hops? No, I didn’t wear roller skates (thank goodness – I’d have killed myself!), but I did work for a Northern California A&W Root Beer drive-in to help defray college costs. Think free GALLONS of the tangy, dark brown liquid. 1967 remains a favorite memory!

Although the Urban Dictionary defines this murky marvel most often with alcohol, and various swill associated with sports, Swampwater was an under age non-alcoholic drink.

And how did the name Swampwater come about? Well, I may not know the real reason, but just for fun, let’s say it was influenced by the era popularity of swamp pop music!

Never heard of it? Sure you have ... “See You Later Alligator” by Bill Haley & His Comets (1955) personified the genre’s jazzed up lovelorn lyrics and honky-tonk piano.

The swamp pop sound left its mark in the 1960s influencing such stellar pioneering Rock musicians as the Honeydrippers, Elvis, Credence Clearwater Revival, and even The Beatles.