Hot Rod Race

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title="Hot Rod Race"
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image_size=
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writer=George Wilson
composer=
lyricist=
published=
written=
language=English
form=Western swing
original_artist=Arkie Shibley
recorded_by=Jimmy Dolan
Tiny Hill
Red Foley
performed_by=

"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. [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."] 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. [Whitburn, "The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits", p.313] 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. [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."]

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.

References

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

External links

* [http://www.rockabilly.nl/references/messages/arkie_shibley.htm www.rockabilly.nl] - Short article about Arkie Shibley and his difficulties in releasing the song.