sid finch

(with apologies to Bruce Springsteen)

Rudy was a red-nosed – truck driver
Hauling a payload of toys, he’s a – Christmas survivor
Pulling extra shifts, making rounds for the holidays
Yeah that old 16-wheeler is now Santa’s sleigh

Yeah, Rudy the Red-Nosed (Toy) Truck Driver
Rudy the Red-Nosed (Toy) Truck Driver

Rudy was red-nosed – truck driver
Driving day and night, he’s no – nine to fiver
Grazing on amphetamines – to stay awake
But for all the boys and girls, you do whatever it takes

Yeah, Rudy the Red-Nosed (Toy) Truck Driver 
Rudy the Red-Nosed (Toy) Truck Driver 

Rudy was a red-nosed – truck driver
Just as Ebenezer Scrooge was a – crusty miser
Come Christmas morning, everything will be OK
See the boys and girls with their new toys at play

Rudy was a red-nosed – truck driver
He used to “just say no” to the Breathalyzer
Hauling through the driven snow, with chains on the tires
A 5th of Old Crow riding by his side

 Rudy was a red-nosed – truck driver
Met his maker one night at the – highway divider
And that cargo of toys just splattered across the interstate
Seems that Rudy’s played the last of his reindeer games

Yeah, Rudy the Red-Nosed (Toy) Truck Driver
Rudy the Red-Nosed (Toy) Truck Driver
…Yeah, Rudy, we miss you, wish you were alive-a
Yeah, Rudy, we hardly knew ya

People always ask where our name comes from. Of course we welcome any association with previous rock and roll Sids, such as Sid Vicious (Sex Pistols) and Sid Barrett (early Pink Floyd). We admire their reckless abandon and the sacrifices they made on behalf of rock n' roll (respectively: heroin overdose, LSD-induced insanity). And there may be those who perceive an inadvertent reference to Dennis Finch-Hatton, Isak Dinesen's love-interest in her celebrated memoir, Out of Africa. This is not unfitting. In that book Mr. Finch-Hatton is depicted as a man of adventure, whose fierce independence and abhorrence of possessiveness we find worthy of emulation. 

Mainly though, we pay homage to Sidd Finch, the apocryphal Met pitcher with the 168 mph fastball. Back in 1985, when the band was still in swaddling clothes (for Cameron and John this was age-appropriate apparel -- others of us were just late-bloomers), New York area baseball fans were electrified by George Plimpton's cover article in the April 1st edition of Sports Illustrated.  In an exclusive story, Plimpton reported on a Mets pitching prospect who could throw a baseball at record speeds. 

Finch's unprecedented pitching prowess was matched only by his peculiarity. He insisted on pitching while clad in one construction boot, the other foot bare. For a musical hobby, his chosen instrument: French horn. And he had a passion for yoga (and life in the Himalayas) so great as to threaten his desire to play professional baseball. 

Sidd's extraordinary talent and bewildering idiosyncrasies were not to be believed. Nor was his capacity to let a golden opportunity slip through his fingers. And, of course, the whole thing turned out to be an elaborate April Fool's joke. All of which serves to explain the aptness of our band name: "sid finch".

To read more about the infamous Sidd Finch hoax, click on this link to the Museum of Hoaxes: Sidd Finch