Car crash songs
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The car accident has been a popular topic for songs. In 1950s and 1960s pop and rock music, the car crash song was a popular form of teenage tragedy song genre. At the time automobile accidents appeared to be an alarming new threat, as the automobile traffic increased in several countries. The theme also appears in country and other music styles.[1]
- Revisions and sourced additions are welcome.
[edit] List of Car Crash Songs
Examples of car crash songs include:
| Title | Original artist | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Airbag" | Radiohead | 1997 | According to the lyrics, "an airbag saved my life."[2] |
| "7-11" | The Ramones | 1981 | from their album Pleasant Dreams The arrangement of this song suggests a strong 1950's/early 60's teenage pop influence with a doo-wop chorus. |
| "Bat Out of Hell" | Meat Loaf | 1977 | Jim Steinman wanted to write the "most extreme crash song of all time."[3] (also listed in [4]) |
| "The Beginning of My End" | The Unifics | 1968 | [4] |
| "The Ballad of Thunder Road" | Robert Mitchum | 1957 | moonshine runner dies when his car speeds off the road |
| "Buses and Trains" | Bachelor Girl | 1998 | Lyrics compare love to traffic accidents with several vehicles, one of them is the car. |
| "(Northbound on) Cahuenga" | Scarling. | 2005 | From So Long, Scarecrow, about Jennifer Symes' auto accident |
| "Car Crash" | The Avengers | 1977 | [5] |
| "Car Crash" | Powerman 5000 | [4] | |
| "Chapel Bells Ringing" | Gene Summers (written by Mary Tarver) | 1962 | 45rpm issued on Lafayette Records. Based upon a true story about a fatal car/train crash in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas. |
| "Chicken" | The Cheers | 1957 | [4] |
| "Come Back Jonee" | Devo | 1978 | The lyric "Jonee jumped in his Datsun, drove onto the expressway, went head on into a semi." |
| "Come to Me Johnny" | Johnny Victor | 1960 | [4] |
| "Crawling from the Wreckage" | Graham Parker | also a hit for Dave Edmunds (1977).[4] | |
| "Crazy Cat Corner" | Gene Summers (written by Deanna Summers-Gene Summers) | 2004 | from Do Right Daddy CD (Enviken) |
| "Daddy's Speeding" | Suede | 1994 | A eulogy to James Dean and about the relevance of car accidents in modern culture |
| "Days of Graduation" | Drive-By Truckers | 2001 | A first person narrative about a fatal car crash the night before the victims' high school graduation. |
| "Dead on the Highway" | Sons of the Never Wrong | 1995 | First person narrative from the person killed in a car accident. |
| "Dead Man's Curve" | Jan and Dean | 1964 | auto racing accident [4] |
| "Dead Joe" | The Birthday Party | 1982 | [5] |
| "Detroit Rock City" | Kiss | 1976 | [2] |
| "D.O.A." | Bloodrock | 1970 | [4] |
| "Don't Save Us from the Flames" | M83 | 2005 | About a survivor of a car crash hearing ghosts crying for Tina (presumably killed in the crash). |
| "En händig man" | Per Gessle | 2007 | "Hanna" in the song always crashed in the same car |
| "Glass In The Trees" | Dead Poetic | 2004 | About a friend who died in a car crash. |
| "Glitter Years" | The Bangles | 1988 | "Denny" in the song crashes his father's car |
| "Head-On Collision" | Pet Hasty | 1964 | [4] |
| "Hello, This is Joannie" | Paul Evans | 1977 | [4] |
| "I Want My Baby Back" | Perry Botkin, Jr. and Gil Garfield, performed by Jimmy Cross | 1965 | A parody of the car crash tragedy genre.[4][5] |
| "In the Car Crash" | Swayzak | 2002 | from the album Dirty Dancing featuring Headgear |
| "Junkyard in the Sky" | London Lee | 1963 | [4] |
| "Kärleken är" | Jill Johnson | 1998 | Inspired by the aftermath of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in a car accident in France in 1997. |
| "Last Kiss" | Wayne Cochran (1962) and made popular by J. Frank Wilson | 1964 | Inspired by an incident in Barnesville, Georgia, in which several teens were killed and two seriously injured when their car struck a flatbed logging truck.[2][4] |
| "Leader of the Pack" | The Shangri-Las | 1964 | motorcycle accident.[4][5][6] |
| "Love Rhymes with Hideous Car Wreck" | The Blood Brothers | 2004 | [2] |
| "Message from James Dean" | Bill Hayes | 1956 | [4] |
| "Mr. Ambulance Driver" | The Flaming Lips | 2006 | from the album At War With the Mystics. Frontman Wayne Coyne has described the song as a "teenager car crash ballad". |
| "Motorcrash" | The Sugarcubes | 1988 | from the album Life's Too Good |
| "Motorist" | Jawbox | 1994 | [5] |
| "No Return" | The Third Rail | 1966 | [4] |
| "Phantom 309" | Red Sovine | 1964 | The song's protagonist, a hitchhiker, meets the ghost of a truck driver who was killed when he swerved his semi-trailer truck into a ditch to avert a potentially deadly collision with a bus full of teen-agers.[4] |
| "Pile-up on the Highway" | Lisa Bade | 1978 | [4] |
| "Rocky's Girl" | David Geddes | 1978 | [4] |
| "Stan" | Eminem | 2000 | The lead character in the song commits suicide by crashing his car, with his pregnant girlfriend in the trunk |
| "Teddy Bear" | Billy Joe Burnette, Tommy Hill, Dale Royal, and Red Sovine | 1976 | The protagonist's father had died in an accident involving his semi-trailer truck during a snowstorm. |
| "Teen Angel" | Mark Dinning and Alex Murray | 1959 | auto accident |
| "Tell Laura I Love Her" | Ray Peterson | 1960 | auto racing accident[2][4][6] |
| "The Carroll County Accident" | Porter Wagoner | 1968 | A deadly car crash reveals a secret extramarital affair in the form of a lost wedding ring |
| "The End Of The Tour" | They Might Be Giants | 1994 | car accident |
| "Three Wooden Crosses" | Randy Travis | 2002 | Christian story song about a car wreck and a "blood-stained Bible" |
| "Through the Wire" | Kanye West | 2003 | Rapper West's first single, inspired by a 2002 accident which he survived, and performed while his jaw was wired shut as a result of his injuries.[2] |
| "Thunderbird" | Steve Azar | 1996 | from the album Heartbreak Town |
| "Transfusion" | Nervous Norvus | 1956 | [4] |
| "Two Hour Honeymoon" | Paul Hampton | 1960 | [4] |
| "Understanding in a Car Crash" | Thursday | 2002 | [5] |
| "Untitled (How Could This Happen to Me?)" | Simple Plan | 2005 | drunk driving accident |
| "Warm Leatherette" | The Normal | 1979 | also recorded by Grace Jones (1980).[4][5] |
| "Wreck on the Highway" | Roy Acuff | 1942 | also recorded by artists including The Louvin Brothers, George Jones and Gene Pitney (1965), The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (in Will the Circle Be Unbroken, 1972), and Bruce Springsteen (in The River, 1980)[1][4] |
| "A Young Man is Gone" | The Beach Boys | 1964 | A eulogy to James Dean |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Chet Flippo, "Nashville Skyline: 'I Ain't Never Seen a Hearse with a Luggage Rack': Songs of Death Return to the Country Charts", CMT.com, April 28, 2005
- ^ a b c d e f Clark Collis, Mike Errico, "Rock's Worst Drivers", Blender, January 2007
- ^ Jim Steinman. (1999). Classic Albums: Meat Loaf Bat Out of Hell [DVD]. Image Entertainment.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x "Crash Fetish Songs: A Top 25 Countdown of the Greatest car Wreck Songs of All-time!" from crashfetish.com
- ^ a b c d e f g Newt Briggs, "Road scholar: Crash course - The Doom-and-Gloom Alternatives to the Beach Boys' 'Little Deuce Coupe'", Las Vegas Mercury, July 15, 2004
- ^ a b Jack Sargeant "Violence and Vinyl: Car Crashes in 1960s Pop" in Mikita Brottman, ed. Car Crash Culture, Palgrave, New York, 2002 (see review)
