Charlie Ryan - Hot Rod Lincoln

PLEASE NOTE: I divided my uploads between multiple channels, Bookmark this link in your browser for instant access to an index with links to all of John1948's oldies classics. LINK: http://tinyurl.com/Channel-Index

Charles "Charlie" Ryan (December 19, 1915, Graceville, Minnesota February 16, 2008, Spokane, Washington) was an American singer and songwriter, best known for co-writing and first recording the rockabilly hit single "Hot Rod Lincoln".

Ryan grew up in Polson, Montana and moved to Spokane in 1943. He served in the United States Army during World War II. After the war, he worked as a musician and songwriter, touring with artists such as Jim Reeves and Johnny Horton. In 1955, he and W. S. Stevenson wrote "Hot Rod Lincoln", and Ryan recorded the first version of the song (as "Charlie Ryan and the Livingston Brothers"). Ryan released a remake in 1959 as "Charlie Ryan and The Timberline Riders"; the song was later covered by Johnny Bond (1960) and Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen (1972), among others.

SOURCE: Wikipedia

Category:

Education

Tags:

• rock
• rockabilly
• country
• crossover

[grizzlyten]

Super!! Love the hot rod photos.

[John1948TwoC]

@grizzlyten Yeah, I love the old rods. 

[pacnorthwesterner]

Most people don't know the story behind where the race location actually was. It wasn't in California, outside of San Pedro, as the song says.  The race took place going up the "Old Spiral Highway" on the Lewiston Hill just north of Lewiston, Idaho. It is mentioned in the wikipedia listing for "Hot Rod Lincoln". I know this from being born and raised in Lewiston, Idaho, common knowledge there.

[John1948TwoC]

@pacnorthwesterner Thanks for that bit of history.

[moproducer]

@pacnorthwesterner The original story for the Johnny Bond version of this song was a race that took place outside of Toledo, OH the night of Sept 23, 1951. One of the participants (the Cadillac driver) was killed as a result of crashing over the guardrail.

It's made its way to local folklore, and there are still places that sell souvenirs commemorative of the event.

[John1948TwoC]

@moproducer I think you are confusing this song with Hot Rod Race. This was written by Charlie Ryan as an answer to Hot Rod Race. You can find more info here ==> en[DOT]wikipedia[DOT]org/wiki/­Hot_Rod_Lincoln

Just replace the [DOT]s with periods.

[rbrtjernigan]

If you never had your fender clicking those guardrail posts, you haven,t lived.

[moproducer]

@John1948TwoC Thanks; I don't really think so. This has been a legend for years in northern Ohio. The Charlie Ryan song is indeed a similar, but different set of lyrics, based on a car that he actually built after returning home from WWII. The car still exists (it has a Lincoln V12, not a V8) and I understand that the Ryan family allows it to be exhibited.

I usually take whatever I read in Wikipedia with a small grain of salt... :)

[justinoaks]

The lyrics here are correct - The Hot Rod Lincoln was 12 cylinders. the whole reason for using the motor. These cars were late 20's early 30's Model A. The changing of the lyrics that takes place in other versions is blasphemy!

[ryan06cobalt]

sucks cuz where i am from the cops are cracking down on hot rods and custom cars because of street racing but this just shows that street racing has been arround for many years