Let’s face it, a lot of songs, recent or otherwise, have cars and/or trucks in the lyrics .
But sadly, I’ve never owned such a vehicle other than that 1957 Olds, and I doubt Ike Turner was referring to a white four door post sedan when he sang “Rocket-88”.
I’ve never owned a little deuce coup; I’ve never even seen one in the metal.
I’ve never owned a 409 (Biscayne or other), and certainly not any car with four speeds, dual quad, and positraction.
And no one is going to confuse my OHC 6 Tempest with a GTO because it clearly did not have 3 deuces, a four speed, and a 389.
Bonnie Raitt did mention a 150 in her and Boz Scaggs’ 2015 song “Hell To Pay”. Seeing she’s mostly a country and western singer I’m assuming she means F-150.
I never had a F-150, but I do love that song (*).
Bonnie sings:
“And then here comes shifty and his new 150 he wants to take me for a ride.
Saying hey little mamma how ‘bout a little drama, Why don’t you just hop in inside?”
Well, that sure sounds like country.
But – finally – today I was reading a Pop Music article in the latest New Yorker (it’s too hot to go out and mow any size lawn right now) and the following lyrics in a song’s three times repeated chorus jumps out at me.
Hailey Whitters sings:
“I can be – The whiskey in your soda, the lime to your Corona
Shotgun in your Tacoma, the Audrey to your Hank
She’s got a little style and a Hollywood smile
But believe me, honey, good as money in the bank
I’m everything she is, and everything she ain’t.”
Ha! I finally made it. Kind of.
But I don’t own a shotgun. At least not yet!
Also, not sure how a long gun rack fits in a double cab Tacoma with a sliding rear window. Certainly one can’t easily reach it while driving.
Here’s the QOTD: Anybody out there who is driving – or has driven – a vehicle mentioned in a song?
And it’s really OK stretching for an answer; that’s what I am doing here.
[Non sequitur alert]
(*) God bless Boz Scaggs and Bonnie Raitt. They’re warning us … hope people listen.
[Verse 5: Boz Scaggs & Bonnie Raitt]
“Well we’ve dirtied up the waters
We pretty much trashed the earth
The butcher and the baker and everybody else
Has taken it for all its worth
Saying “me oh my, it was a big old pie
And I sure as hell filled my cup”
That Senator’s a comin’ on a big white horse
And my judge is gonna fix me up
But as I come to [gauge?] this moment
It’s time to pipe or pray
‘Cause now it’s time for the money shot baby
Times up and there’s hell to pay
You got some hell to pay”.
If you’re curious, here it is; 6 minutes and 12 seconds of pure joy.
Not exactly a specific car, but I’ll go with James Taylor’s Traffic Jam.
Damn this traffic jam,
How I hate to be late,
It hurts my motor to go so slow.
Actually I’m not so worried about being late, although my wife is, but the “hurts my motor to go so slow” line does speak to (or about) me.
Going back to the big band/swing era I’ll nominate “Skylark” Helen Forrest with Harry James’ band.
The title at least. “Skylark” from the big band/swing era.
Lowlife by Theory of a Deadman, quite catchy…
You know I’ll be the one who gets fallin’ down drunk
At my neighbor kid’s soccer game
I got an ’82 Fiero with a car seat in the middle
Broken down on the Interstate
There’s no such thing as an 82 Fiero, also the middle part was occupied by the fuel tank.
“Buick 59, Buick” by I don’t remember whom, yes the Nash Metropolitan was sold in England, RHD no less, they sold poorly and most were dumped to American police forces as meter maid cars in 1962 .
“Beep Beep” was in fact written about the Nash Metropolitan not the Rambler but the lyrics didn’t fit .
I am loving all the lyrics and links, so much history here .
-Nate
Sometime ago, someone here, maybe Joseph? had made a reference to a song called “How Bizarre”.
The car in the video is obviously a ’68 Chevy. This was the family car when I was young, albeit a Grecian Green Custom Coupe, rather than a red convertible.
The singer in the video misidentifies this car as a ’69.
Oh, I forgot about NZ’s own OMC and How Bizarre! It’s not actually the singer who misidentifies it as a ’69, it’s the policeman he quotes in the lyrics:
Suddenly red-blue lights flash us from behind
Loud voice booming, “Please step out onto the line”
Pele preaches words of comfort, Zina just hides her eyes
Policeman taps his shades, “Is that a Chevy ’69?”
Throughout the ’60s NZ did get new Canadian-built RHD Impalas, which were often a year or more behind the American models, but that wouldn’t count in this instance as being LHD it’s an import.
Fun fact: A parody of the song was written and released in NZ shortly after How Bizarre, and is entitled ‘Stole My Car’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az-Op_d2V3s
It’s also possibly the only song which calls out the HQ Holden:
Jumped into the cop car went for a cruise around,
Ow keep your fellas eyes peeled for an HQ Holden coloured brown
Nathaniel Mayer, “Ride in My 225” (referring to a Buick Electra 225):
https://youtu.be/pI2JBRQ2kdQ
Incredible moves for a man of 60!
If obscurity counts, the Medallions “59 Volvo”. Not mine, but a friend had one.
85 horses under my hood, gives me power that’s understood.
The song doesn’t mention the car, but it was used in the TV commercials! And, yes, I had a ’78 wagon. Tan, Super Six, automatic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAUHWjnde_4&ab_channel=OsbornTramain
Another obscure oldie :
‘Pink Cadillac’ by Rusty Draper : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUbnDPICZi0
On a 78 RPM : the little ford rambled right along : https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+little+ford+rambled+right+along
-Nate
David Byrne’s “Big Blue Plymouth”, from “The Catherine Wheel”.
Also “Holding you in my Holden” from the 1950s. And “Buicks to the Moon”
“He’d Have To Get Under Get Out And Get Under To Fix Up His Automobile” (Billy Murray, 1913) – this song would cover just about any of the first several cars that I owned.
Fire engine red Coup de Ville from Brokenheartsville by Joe Nichols. Also Guitars and Cadillacs by Dwight Yoakam. Good songs, never owned the cars.
This might be of interest to any blues fans. Although I have not owned a Terraplane I recently found out that “Terraplane Blues” was the first 78 released by Robert Johnson. It was recorded in 1936 and released in 1937.