Rain was falling on a chilly weekday morning as I slowed towards the intersection to adhere to our local laws regarding red lights. A hearty yawn emerged from within. My eyes were a little sleepy still and the sun had yet to make an appearance for the day.

In my peripherals, I caught a glimpse of something that immediately grabbed my attention away from the red light. It must have been a shadow or just a side effect of it being six in the morning because there was nothing of note to see.

Same old intersection I pass through every morning. As I diverted my focus back to the stoplight, I realized that it had changed to green. Right as I moved my foot from the brake to the accelerator and could feel the pedal through the sole of my shoe, a noise entered the air that I hadn’t heard in quite some time and never actually in-person.

The driver in the truck behind me had apparently grown impatient and decided to let his frustrations be known. He had seemingly mashed the heel of his hand into the spongey part of the steering wheel, but instead of the blare of your average car horn, a tune played.

They had a novelty horn. I had only experienced such a thing in movies and T.V. shows and honestly thought it was kind of ridiculous and not something that people actually had in real life.

The chosen tune that radiated from the truck driven by the angry fellow in my rearview mirror was one that I was very familiar with: “Dixie.”

Many hours were spent on weekends and the occasional days off during the week sitting in the living room as my dad took in a few reruns of one of his favorite shows as a kid The Dukes of Hazzard.

Following the various exploits and adventures of the Duke boys and their cousin Daisy, the show often featured the trio, along with their Uncle Jesse, finding various ways to expose the corruption of County Commissioner Boss Hogg and Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane.

While the show featured a cast of interesting characters, arguably the biggest star to come from the show was the General Lee, a bright orange 1969 Dodge Charger without working doors that played the first twelve notes of the aforementioned song when the horn was honked.

It was never really one of my favorites and looking at the show through today’s lens has maybe tarnished its reputation amongst modern viewers. In spite of that, it was pretty fun to watch and was only one of about ten shows you could watch from that era and see cars flying through the air by various means.

So when I heard those twelve notes fill the air behind me, I knew that the guy must have been a fan of the show.

Honestly, growing up and living my entire life in the South, I’m surprised that it was the first time I had encountered that particular horn on a vehicle in person. You hear it in parades and at events of that nature, but never just out in the wild roaming freely.

A lot of that probably has to do with the fact that I was born around a decade after the show went off the air. There may have been a time where you heard that horn every day, but I was born a little too late to have experienced that.

Just like anything popular, I’m sure it had its moment and then quietly stepped out of the way for the next trendy thing to take its place, but just like other trends of its kind, I was a little surprised it hadn’t made a resurgence yet.

Or maybe it had, and I just now realized it… Regardless of the tune, the trends or anything, a part of me has to call into question the effectiveness of a novelty horn.

Using it as a way to greet someone as you’re driving down the street or when you pull into their driveway I get. It’s fun and a way to make people smile. Awesome!

But for the purpose that Miller Reese Hutchinson intended, I don’t know if they serve a great purpose.

Before I continue, I must admit that before I started writing this, I hadn’t the slightest idea who Miller Reese Hutchinson, the inventor of the car horn and the man who gave us the aoogha sound you hear from old automobiles, was, and I venture to guess that most folks probably don’t.

I could have easily said Henry Ford or another famous manufacturer, but why not take the opportunity to both learn something and teach, you know?

Anyway, back at the intersection where I was before boarding this train of thought that I’ve taken us on, the driver behind me honked his horn to get me to drive and get out of his way so that he could continue on his trip.

What happened was the exact opposite as I immediately became intrigued by what was going on behind me, the rusty contraption angrily belting its unicorn song.

The standard car horn is forceful and aggressive and immediately conveys anger. You instantly know its there and that you’ve displeased its driver.

But a novelty horn… not so much. Instead, you are passively serenaded by a ditty from your fellow traveler. Imagine you’re coming to the climax of an intense argument and you’re about to yell out your most biting counterpoint. As your mouth opens and you start to speak, your voice is replaced by that of Mickey Mouse.

That’s what a novelty horn does. When I got honked at, a thousand thoughts entered my mind except for one that absolutely should have: “Hey, you should probably go.”

I eventually did as the rules of the road dictate, but I definitely could have stayed another hour just pondering the predicament I had just found myself in.

Maybe that’s why you don’t hear them that often. They’re ineffective. Then again, maybe we need more of them. Maybe if all of our cars played an upbeat tune in the most tumultuous of traffic situations then there’d be a whole lot less anger in the world. Maybe we’d realize that some of those times we laid on the horn weren’t worth it.

Who knows? It at least got me to thinking. I think there is one thing we can all agree on, though. There aren’t nearly enough shows where cars fly through the air by various means on the T.V. these days.