Friday, September 21, 2007

"Girl, You're Gonna Drive Me To Drinkin' If You Don't Stop Drivin' That Hot Rod Lincoln"

Dear friends,

why I chose this driving topic, I simply have no idea at all, perhaps it is just because I was rather late for work this morning and drove a bit too fast .... perhaps it is just because both songs featured in today's post I always liked a lot and can't get them out of my head.

'Hot Rod Lincoln' was first recorded by Charlie Ryan and the Livingston Brothers back in 1955. Apparently Ryan had a 1941 Lincoln Zephyr 4-door Sedan at the time, which he turned into a Hot Rod over the years and kept it until his death.

The song became a little hit for Johnny Bond a few years later, Johnny being one of Gene Autrey's regular sidekicks at the time and Autrey owned the public rights to the song. Alas I've heard neither of the two versions, but perhaps one of these days ... who knows?

Anyway, Jane Bond's version of 'Hot Rod Lincoln' (mp3), recorded in 1982, is good enough for me. First issued as a 7" on Ear Movie Records (EM2S007) it had 'Come On Up' on the flipside, backing vocals on this track by Susanna, Debbi and Vicki .... and if those names don't ring a bell, you know them as the Bangles. I once saw the Bangles play in the early 80's in a nearby village and briefly met Susanna Hoffs .... well, she stood some 50 metres away and looked in my direction, but that did it for me. That and the fact that she said in an interview to be eating Milky Way (or was it Mars?) Bars whilst having a shower would be pretty cool. I was a 15 year old adolescent at the time, easily aroused I might add, and the thought alone of her showering - with or without eating sweets - .... oh boy! But I digress (and should've posted a Bangles track instead, I think), sorry for that.

Back to Jane Bond & The Undercovermen. Jane Bond came from L.A. and were Lisa Mitchell (as Jane obviously) and Ethan James as (at least one of) the Undercovermen. Multi-instrumentalist James founded Radio Tokyo Studios and produced such acts as Black Flag, Minutemen, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and ... The Bangles (ha!!).

Jane Bond recorded two albums, the first, self-titled one, is from 1981, the second one, 'Politically Correct' seems to be from 1982, although I'm not absolutely certain about that, personally I think it was issued two or even three years later. Anyway I cannot recommend it enough, it is a real treat throughout and can rather easily be found in your favourite second hand record shop, I would think.


The second driving/racing tune, another one that you don't hear all that often, comes from Drag Racing Underground, some side project out of Big Stick, if not Big Stick themselves. Issued as a 7", limited to 500 copies only (far too few, I would think) on Snakeskin Records in 1989, 'Hellfire' (mp3) remained one of my favourites ever since ... and I can only hope you will enjoy it as much as I always did!

As usually: comments and/or requests: highly appreciated!

Take care,

Dirk

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

yes this may have been written in 2007, but i just had to say how nice it is to be able to google Jane Bond and the Undercover Men and actually get some related results. I love the album Politically Correct, it really is amazing =]