Which is THE Quintessential "Hot Rod" Song?

[ToyLvr]

I like 409!i bet the GM engineers got a real kick out of that song with specific mention of the design features of the SS Chevy'"4 speed Dual quad(Rochester Quadrajet)positraction 409"!

Years ago, a local restaurateur built an old-fashioned diner in my area, which was a great place for local car nuts to hang out.

While eating there one day, the "409" song was playing on the juke box. My teenaged daughter looked up and said "why is there a song about a spray cleaner".

That's when I realized that I had failed in her automotive education....

[Snake45]

Pontiac ad man Jim Wangers wrote "Little GTO".

Huh. This says different. I don't doubt that Wangers takes credit for it, though. I don't believe he's the shy, retiring type.

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=18160

[Petetrucker07]

The Beach Boys are cemented in the rodding world. Their music is the culture, at least out here in sunny so cal. I vote duece.

[Bernard Kron]

Obviously, this thread has wandered far afield from the original post, but I just wanted to comment that I thought the 3 songs chosen were quite appropriate to the question:

• Hot Rod Race for having established the genre and provided the seminal structure upon which all future Hot Rod songs would be based.
• Hot Rod Lincoln as the breakthrough hit that broke the genre onto the mainstream Pop Music charts.
• Little Deuce Coupe as the mass-appeal iconic classic that transcends all generations past and present and survives to this day.

The back stories for each of these songs, who wrote them, when they first appeared, and even how they made their journey into whatever level of popular culture they finally resided, is equally significant. Hot Rod Race, while unquestionably genuine and "pure" as a representation of postwar West Coast hot rod culture (street racing in San Pedro) and the Okies and Arkies of the Depression who created it from the money they earned in wartime factories, is relatively obscure today. To modern ears it is prehistorically primitive proto-rockabilly and much of what it describes has largely been forgotten except by hard-core Hot Rod aficionados. Hot Rod Lincoln owes as much of its notoriety to Commander Cody & The Lost Planet Airmen and the Rock 'n' Roll revivalists of the 1970's as it ever did to its initial success in 1955 or its acceptance as a pop chart hit in 1960. I would dare say that many who vote for it today are doing so because they remember it from the pop music revolt of the 70's and early 80's rather than the emergence of rockabilly and car culture in the 50's and early 60's. Only Little Deuce Coupe can truly be thought of as a pop culture icon, and THE quintessential hot rod song when it comes to mass culture.

I'm one of the few who voted for Hot Rod Race, but only because of its seminal nature and because it's such a remarkable document of the early years of hot rodding. But I would be the first to admit that, far more than the other two, Little Deuce Coupe, the product of California Youth Culture in full cry (cars, music, and post war consumerism), has endured and is universally acknowledged for its representation of a pop hot rod ideal.

[GLMFAA1]

I'll vote for hot rod Lincoln as that was the rock and roll car soong I heard, Then went on to surf music so BB are second

greg

Edited September 6, 2014 by GLMFAA1

[Ace-Garageguy]

quin·tes·sen·tial

ˌkwintəˈsenCHəl/

adjective

1. representing the most perfect or typical example of a quality or class.

   "he was the quintessential tough guy—strong, silent, and self-contained"

   synonyms: typical, prototypical, stereotypical, archetypal, classic, model, standard,stock, representative, conventional; More

[unclescott58]

This may not be quintessential, but another car song I like is Mercury Blues. Originally written by, K.C. Douglas and Robert Geddins back in 1948.

Scott

Edited September 6, 2014 by unclescott58

[unclescott58]

By the way, even though Mercury Blues was written in 1948, the lyrics refer to "A Mercury 49". How can this be? Ford introduced the new '49 Mercury in April of 1948. Eight months before the '49 calendar year started. About two months before the new '49 Ford in June of '48.

Scott

Edited September 6, 2014 by unclescott58

[Snake45]

This may not be quintessential, but another car song I like is Mercury Blues. Originally written by, K.C. Douglas and Robert Geddins back in 1948.

Scott

Funny you should bring that one up. I'd never heard that song in my life before, but about 6 months ago someone lent me a Steve Miller CD that has that on it. Fabulous song! Or maybe Steve Miller just did a fabulous version of it. Either way, it was an unexpected bright spot in that whole month.

[Jon Haigwood]

"Mercury Blues" was originally called "Mercury Boogie "written by K.C.Douglas . The info I found states it was written sometime in 1948.

[Snake45]

This talk about a "Mercury '49" just reminded me of another great hot rod song: Springsteen's "Cadillac Ranch," from the oft-forgotten The River album. I especially like Warren Zevon's cover of it. (Much later, Zevon pretty much ripped off the song for his "Down in the Mall" on the Transverse City album. It's also a great song, but not about hot rods at all.)

[ShredHippie]

Music is always subjective...like Deathgoblin...I like it a bit heavier..

"Jesus Built my Hotrod" by Ministry (not religious) is one of my favs and the video is awesome. You've gotta watch it if you've never seen it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXCh9OhDiCI

Of the three songs to vote on...I like "Hot Rod Lincoln" the best even though "Little Duece Coupe" is probably the most popular & recognizable.

Edited September 7, 2014 by ShredHippie

[unclescott58]

Okay, Jesus Built My Hot Rod is not for me. Going to sound like the old man I am by saying this, but I can't understand a word they're singing (dang whipper snappers). I like the Chevy truck though.

Scott

Edited September 13, 2014 by unclescott58

[W-409]

From those three it's The Little Deuce Coupe. An excellent song!

But I think these two are my biggest favorites by The Go Getters:

NO BRAKES
(Peter Sandberg)

Wind in my hair, flyin' down the hill
Sound of music in my Flathead mill
Gotta go faster, see how much it makes
But I got no brakes, no brakes

My friends say slow down, if you don't wanna die
If I go any faster, I will surely fly
And I just love the sound that's roarin' thru my lakes
But I got no brakes, no brakes

Well, I should have put some money on the brakes, I know
But I don't wanna ride around a car that slow
So speed is not a problem, it got just what it takes
But it got no brakes, no brakes

Well, I should have put some money on the brakes, I know
But I don't wanna ride around a car that slow
So speed is not a problem, it got just what it takes
But it got no brakes, no brakes
No brakes, no brakes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scn4Gu1q4yc

And:

Loud Pipes & Lead Feet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xYH1G0rBQI

(I didn't find lyrics for this one)

[DonW]

quin·tes·sen·tial

ˌkwintəˈsenCHəl/

adjective

1. representing the most perfect or typical example of a quality or class.

   "he was the quintessential tough guy—strong, silent, and self-contained"

   synonyms: typical, prototypical, stereotypical, archetypal, classic, model, standard,stock, representative, conventional; More

That'll be 'I Get Around' then!

Even more quintessential than Little Duece Coupe, if it's possible to have degrees of quintessentialness?

Edited September 9, 2014 by DonW

[Snake45]

That'll be 'I Get Around' then!

Even more quintessential than Little Duece Coupe, if it's possible to have degrees of quintessentialness?

Great song, maybe the quintessential "California Song," but there's barely a hot rod in it. One line about a car that's "never been beat." "Beat" at what it doesn't say.

[PeeBee]

I wore out my sister's 45s of 409 and Dead Man's Curve when I was a kid back in the '60s, but I think my all time favorite is Hot Rod Lincoln, though Springsteen's "Racin' in the Streets" is truer to my demographic and the cars me and buddies were driving back in the day. And yeah Bruce, there weren't any big blocks runnin' fuelies, but the 327 in my '64 Impala certainly was...

If I recall correctly, in Dead Man's Curve Jan & Dean refer to the Corvette's "...six tail lights...". Actually, I'm sure of it because I remember thinking how cool it was of them to be in the know about the popular trend back then to add a couple of extra taillights to the 'Vette, a custom touch I always assumed was inspired by the six tail lights that the Impalas were sporting. Jan & Dean were not hodads...

PB.

[DonW]

Great song, maybe the quintessential "California Song," but there's barely a hot rod in it. One line about a car that's "never been beat." "Beat" at what it doesn't say.

I'm gettin' bugged driving up and down the same old strip...

Maybe I'm reading between the lines too much!

[Snake45]

I'm gettin' bugged driving up and down the same old strip...

Maybe I'm reading between the lines too much!

There's nothing in the rest of the song that leads me to believe that's a drag strip. Sounds like he's just cruising to me. I think every population center of any size whatsoever in America has a "strip" of some sort where the kids cruise and hang out. We had two even here in tiny Dickberg.

[Brett Barrow]

"driving up and down" being the key phrase. Drag strip would only be one direction. In my backwater hometown in BFE, Virginia we even called our cruising spot on US Hwy 220 "The Drag Strip" or just "The Drag", even though no one ever went above 20mph.

[Danno]

I'm gettin' bugged driving up and down the same old strip...

Maybe I'm reading between the lines too much!

"I Get Around" was about cruising. The 'never gets beat' referred to stoplight racing, a common outgrowth of the parade of 'cool heads' showing off their 'hot cars.'

And, yes, 'the same old strip" referred to driving up and down the same cruising scene over and over.

[Jon Haigwood]

If I recall correctly, in Dead Man's Curve Jan & Dean refer to the Corvette's "...six tail lights...". Actually, I'm sure of it because I remember thinking how cool it was of them to be in the know about the popular trend back then to add a couple of extra taillights to the 'Vette, a custom touch I always assumed was inspired by the six tail lights that the Impalas were sporting. Jan & Dean were not hodads...

PB.

Jan and Dean recorded three versions of Dead Mans Curve

Versions #1 & 3 - "my frenched tail lights", "the strip was deserted" and "pulled her out and there I was"

Version #2 - "my six tail lights", "the street was deserted" and "pulled her out and there we were"

[Greg Myers]

I like 409!i bet the GM engineers got a real kick out of that song with specific mention of the design features of the SS Chevy'"4 speed Dual quad(Rochester Quadrajet)positraction 409"!

Dual (2) Quad (4bbl AFBs) no Rochesters in site

Edited September 9, 2014 by Greg Myers

[Brett Barrow]

Dual Rochesters:

Edited September 9, 2014 by Brett Barrow

[Danno]

TOO FUNNY, Brett!