“Dead Man’s Curve” is a 1964 hit song by Jan and Dean detailing a teen drag race gone awry. We were jsut entering the golden age of muscle cars in 1964 and the Vette was Americas top dog. The XKE was a model of Car Jaguar produced at the time too. In reality it was no competition to the Vette with the big Chevy Engines and 4 speed transmission. But, man it was one cool looking car with a tilt front end and a straight inline 6 cylinder engine.

The song was a smash hit, and grew to be one of my favorites since I owned a 1966 Vette with the “BigBlock” 427 cubic inch engine, often referred to as a ‘rat motor’. I never raced any XKE Jaguars, but we raced plenty with the other American muscle cars. You just can’t imagine the amount of fun we had with these cars with gigantic engines and big fat tires. Gotta try it to believe it.

Here are the lyrics to the song:

I was cruisin’ in my Stingray late one night,
When an XKE pulled up on the right
He rolled down the window of his shiny new Jag,
And challenged me then and there to a drag

I said “You’re on buddy — my mill’s running fine,
Let’s come off the line now at Sunset and Vine
But I’ll go you one better, if you’ve got the nerve,
Let’s race all the way — to Dead Man’s Curve”

(Dead Man’s Curve) is no place to play
(Dead Man’s Curve) you’d best keep away
(Dead Man’s Curve) I can hear ‘em say:
“Won’t come back from Dead Man’s Curve”

The street was deserted late Friday night;
We were buggin’ each other while we sat out the light
We both popped the clutch when the light turned green,
You shoulda heard the whine from my screamin’ machine!

I flew past La Brea, Schwab’s and Crescent Heights,
And all the Jag could see were my six taillights
He passed me at Doheny then I started to swerve,
But I pulled her out and there we were – at Dead Man’s Curve

(Dead Man’s Curve) is no place to play
(Dead Man’s Curve… [sounds of skids and crashes] )

(Spoken): “Well, the last thing I remember, Doc,
I started to swerve
And then I saw the Jag slide into the curve
I know I’ll never forget that horrible sight,
I guess I found out for myself that everyone was right”

Won’t come back from Dead Man’s Curve…

(Dead Man’s Curve) is no place to play
(Dead Man’s Curve) you’d best keep away
(Dead Man’s Curve) I can hear ‘em say:
“Won’t come back from Dead Man’s Curve”

(Dead Man’s Curve) is no place to play
(Dead Man’s Curve) you’d best keep away
(Dead Man’s Curve) I can hear ‘em say:
“Won’t come back from Dead Man’s Curve” (fade)

Red wants a walk..

I wrote a blog about the song “Little GTO” the other day, and on my walk with my dog, Red, this morning I was thinking of car songs from that era. There are plenty of them, just be happy I am into engines instead of singing. Enjoy.