When Don Routley started driving at Prairie Bus Lines in 2018, he called it his retirement job. Little did he know that his daily routine of ferrying students to school and then Safely Home would be just the inspiration he needed for his own musical journey.
Don has been playing music in a band for years, and when he joined a songwriting collective during COVID, one of the group’s mandates was to come up with a song. He looked no further than the little “sammich grabbers” on his route to find his muse.
“Everybody has a different inspiration for a song, and my kids really make me laugh. They do some strange stuff, and the song was slowly born from that.”
The song has a warm, folksy charm that tells the story of two generations whimsically begging “Mister Bus Driver” to take them to Paris.
While crafting, recording, and filming the song has taken some time, Don only released the single on YouTube Music a little over a week ago. So far, he’s received several hundred views, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive – especially from the parents.
“I sent it out to all the parents and said, ‘hey, your kids inspired me to write this song and perform it,’ and it’s been really, really positive. The people at work really seem to like it too. I haven’t had any complaints about it!”
Don enlisted the help of a videographer friend to film the video and convinced a photographer friend to bring out his drone for the aerial shots. Incredibly, most of the footage seen in the music video was shot on an iPhone.
He’s grateful to everyone who helped him write the song, record the music, and edit the video. Don also gave Prairie Bus Lines a shout-out for allowing him to borrow their buses for the shoot!
When one of the parents showed the video to her six-year-old son, suggesting that Don was a pretty good singer, the little boy kind of brushed it off, saying, “Ah, he sings on the bus all of the time!”
Don added, “it’s just something that I enjoy, something I love to do, and if the kids enjoy it, if the public enjoys it, that’s great.”
You can watch “Mister Bus Driver” by clicking on the video below. Be sure to download the track and share the YouTube Music link with your friends and family.
Well done, Mister Bus Driver!