It reminds me of him.

“Marge Violette was bewitched by Scott, but she wasn’t in love with him; she soon realized that he would be emotionally dangerous. He was clearly not a one-woman man. Scott never promised fidelity and she never expected it. He would go off to his townhouse in Honolulu often. She had no illusions that he wasn’t dating other women. She simply enjoyed watching him, listening to him, hearing him play ‘Blackbird’ on his guitar. She studied his face in the firelight the way someone might watch a completely handsome actor in a movie. He was like quicksilver, impossible to trap or to hold.”

— Ann Rule, The End of the Dream

In other words:

Ben and David at the Agora, 1978. Photo by Janet Macoska

On the first time he saw Ben play: “I can remember seeing Ben’s and Ric’s names around town as another band, Cap’n Swing, but it wasn’t the same places that I was going to at the time, so I hadn’t gotten to see them play live. Then a mutual friend of mine and Ric’s, Maxanne Sartori, had mentioned them to me, and she thought they were good, so I went and saw Cap’n Swing at Paul’s Mall. They were kind of a mish-mash group of people, and when they came out, Ben was wearing these white satin karate pajamas and flip flops!

“I remember thinking, ‘What kind of look is this?’ Ben only sang and didn’t play the bass, but I did notice right away how great his voice was! The music was quirky-pop sounding, and not really coming from a hip place but a more nerdy place, so I wasn’t overly impressed.” — David Robinson, Let’s Go! Benjamin Orr and The Cars by Joe Milliken, p. 70.

Quoting Benjamin

“There are a lot of things I’ve done in music that I’ve never really had to think about because it just came natural.” — from “Benjamin Orr: The Cars’ Mr. Casual Steps Out” by Rob Tannenbaum, Musician Magazine, March 1987

Lyrics: Cruiser

“Cruiser” by The Cars

Big city noise disappears

Sucker punch is in your heart

Life is reason, light is clue

My shape is shapeless in your suit

Chrome red eyeballs reflect and roll

The simple sun is slowly sinking

Roman shoes and pretty hats

Glitter bombs that beat the beat

You comb the night ’cause you’re a cruiser

And you never get enough when you’re cruising down the street

And you’re taking off the heat when you’re on the moonlight run

(cruiser… cruiser)

Floating jets and big vignettes

Get the treatment, grab a cab

Set aside the screaming fish

Tell the world why you’re so glad

Flip the switches, pull the plug

You always wait for better news

You need a hit, you need a suck

You don’t easily get amused

You comb the night ’cause you’re a cruiser

And you never get enough when you’re cruising down the street

And you’re taking off the heat when you’re on the moonlight run

(cruiser… cruiser)