One of the most frightening wake-ups of my life happened during a cross-country road trip. Three of us in a large Oldsmobile of some kind. We were on a two-lane blacktop somewhere in western Oklahoma, and I’d been sleeping scrunched-up in the back seat. Maybe 6 or 7 am. Somewhere in the recesses of my dawning consciousness I heard the angry chant of 15 gorillas — “Ooo-kachaka! Ooga-ooga-ooo-kachaka! Ooga-ooga-ooo-kachaka!” — getting louder and louder. I was muttering to myself “fuck is that?” and then suddenly a switch was thrown and I felt terrified. Gorillas! I sat up and realized a second later where I was and what I was hearing — Blue Swede’s “Hooked On A Feeling.” I’ve never forgotten that moment, and I never will.
