When Dad surprises the family by installing a record player in the car, everyone is thrilled. They pile into the Brown Bomber, their affectionate nickname for the car, and take turns playing records. Each kid gets to choose four songs to play, and Kenny chooses his favorite song, "Yakety Yak," all four of his times.

This is a rather silly and lighthearted song which was released by The Coasters in the late 1950s. The song begins:

Take out the papers and the trash
Or you don't get no spendin' cash
If you don't scrub that kitchen floor
You ain't gonna rock and roll no more
Yakety yak (don't talk back)

The "yakety yak" refrain repeats throughout the song and lends itself to a whimsical mood.

Later when Kenny is worried about his parents' plans to leave Byron in Alabama, Dad suggests that Kenny get "Yakety Yak" and sit with him for a while to chat. Kenny declines, but after their conversation, he asks if he can still get his favorite record after all. Dad agrees but makes Kenny promise that he will only play it three times. This prompts Kenny to ask why Dad installed the record player in the car; Dad informs him that once you are south of Cincinnati, you can only get "hillbilly music" on the radio, and he's afraid that the family might learn to like it if they listen to it enough. Not wanting to get his children "hooked on hillbilly music," he's decided to bring their own music with them.

Humorously, Dad conveys his belief that even listening to "Yakety Yak" over and over isn't nearly as unpleasant as the risk of his children becoming fans of "hillbilly music."