Hot Rod Race
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| "Hot Rod Race" | |
| Written by | George Wilson |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Form | Western swing |
| Original artist | Arkie Shibley |
| Recorded by | Jimmy Dolan Tiny Hill Red Foley |
"Hot Rod Race" is a Western swing song about an automobile race out of San Pedro, California, between a Ford and a Mercury. Released in November 1950, it broke the ground for a series of hot rod songs recorded for the car culture of the 1950s and 60s.[1] With its hard driving boogie woogie beat, it is sometimes named one of the first rock and roll songs.
Written by George Wilson, it became a major hit for Arkie Shibley and his Mountain Dew Boys (Gilt-Edge 5021), staying on the charts for 7 weeks, peaking at #5 in 1951.[2] Trying to repeat his success, Shibley recorded at least four follow-up songs.
Ramblin' Jimmie Dolan, Tiny Hill, and Red Foley, all released versions in 1951; Hill's became a hit on the pop charts.
Shibley's record may have climbed higher and outpaced any of the others, but his second verse opened up with:
- Now along about the middle of the night
- We were ripping along like white folks might.
Eastern radio stations, never a fan of Western swing anyway, refused to play it.[3]
Dolan changed the verse to say "plain folks"; Hill to "rich folks"; and Foley to "poor folks".
The song ends with:
- When it flew by us, I turned the other way.
- The guy in Mercury had nothing to say,
- For it was a kid, in a hopped-up Model A.
These lyics set the stage for an "answer song" called "Hot Rod Lincoln", first recorded in 1955.
[edit] References
- ^ Hoffmann, Sports and Recreation Fads, p. 179: "The record industry was particularly successful in eploiting the craze [hot rodding]. The first genre recording, "Hot Rod Race," released in November 1950, sold 200,000 copies."
- ^ Whitburn, "The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits", p.313
- ^ Grushkin, Rockin' Down the Highway, p. 54-55: "... but stations back East considered themselves too progressive to play such intimations of racism on the air."
[edit] Bibliography
- Grushkin, Paul. Rockin' Down the Highway: The Cars and People That Made Rock Roll. Voyageur Press, 2006. ISBN 0-7603-2292-9
- Hoffmann, Frank W.; Wiliam G. Bailey. Sports and Recreation Fads. Routledge, 1991. ISBN 1-56024-056-3
- Whitburn, Joel. The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits. Billboard Books, 2006. ISBN 0-8230-8291-1
[edit] External links
- www.rockabilly.nl - Short article about Arkie Shibley and his difficulties in releasing the song.
