by Karen J Mossman
One day a few years ago I heard Dr. Hook’s song A little Bit More on the radio. It’s a beautiful ballad, but whenever I hear it now, it makes me smile because it reminds me of my dad.
Of course, a song 
like that isn’t supposed to remind you of your dad, and that makes me chuckle, too.
The reason was that back in 1976 we lived in Bury, Lancashire. Dad was a policeman with the Manchester Police and based at Bootle Street in the centre of town. I worked in offices at the Royal Exchange. It was about 15 miles away from home and two buses and a train were my usual commute.
Dad worked shifts and sometimes he would leave the house at a similar time to me, so I had a lift to work. He also car-shared with his friend. The time the song was in the charts must have been in the winter because it was freezing cold and the car took an age to warm up. He would then call in at Whitefield to pick up his colleague. I hated having to get out and go into an old Ford Cortina that didn’t seem to warm up till we had reached our destination.
This song often came on the radio and I’d be sitting next to dad in the passenger seat when suddenly, the words were crystal clear:
When your body’s had enough of me
And I’m laying flat out on the floor
When you think I’ve loved you all I can
I’m gonna love you a little bit more
So if you’re feelin’ alright and you’re ready for me
I know that I’m ready for you
We better get it on now
‘Cause we got our whole life to live through
I died in that car! If it came on when both men were in there it wasn’t as bad because they or we were usually talking and no one listened to the lyrics.
That story takes me straight on to when mum and I went to the pictures, sometime in the seventies .I can’t remember how we chose the film, but it was called Confessions of a Window Cleaner. Neither of us knew what it was about, except it was a comedy and basically it turned out to be a sex romp. Not the sort of film you go to see with your mother, and especially when you are only 16. Who was the more embarrassed, I don’t know? I just remember us sinking lower and lower in the seat.
My son was always a big fan of Eminem and we watched the film 8-Mile together. He was about 16 too. There was one scene where Eminem took a girl into the garage where he worked, and they went to the car repair pit and made love. I couldn’t look at my son and he couldn’t look at me. I just recall from the corner of my eye seeing him sink lower in his seat with his hand shielding his eyes as a deadly silence washed over us.
It was so embarrassing!
Karen J. Mossman 