Mid-Life Crisis Songs #34 / Radio Songs #67

It just hit me, like a punch in the gut... I am now as old as Rex Bob Lowenstein.

And his name is Rex Bob Lowenstein 

He's forty-seven, goin' on sixteen 

His request line's open but he makes no bones 

About why he plays Madonna after George Jones 

Rex Bob David Saul Lowenstein only exists in a song, but he's been a hero of mine since I first heard his name back in the early 90s. He was the DJ I always wanted to be. A DJ not confined by playlists or genres, a DJ who defies his bosses and plays whatever the hell he wants... or whatever the hell his listeners want.

Of course, that doesn't end well for him. That's radio for you!

Now Rex Bob David Saul Lowenstein 

Quit his job a week later, but before he'd leave 

He locked and bolted the control room door 

And played smash or trash till they cuffed him on the floor 

Well they drug him into court and the judge said, “Rex 

“I've got to lock you up, for what I'm not sure yet. 

“But your boss here says he thinks you're wrapped too tight. 

“But, by the way thanks for playing ‘Moon River' last night” 

Back when I first heard Rex Bob - played by Bob Harris on his much-missed late night show in the early 90s - I imagined some grizzly old DJ of a similar vintage to the hero of Harry Chapin's WOLD. I mean, 47... imagine being as old as that! It was unthinkable.

And now here I am... and it doesn't seem that old at all. Those of you who are older are no doubt wishing you could be 47 again. Time plays tricks on us all.

The closest I ever got to being Rex Bob Lowenstein is this blog. I can live with that.



Have you ever grown as old (or older) than a character in a song you always thought of as much older than you? There's a question to get you scratching your heads...