Hi all,

here is another vw song for eveyone - I only heard it the other day on a CD of silly songs for kids.

It's about a sleeper bug giving a guy in a Cadillac a scare. It's a slow song and it takes a while to get to the punchline, but eh.

You will have to excuse the goofy video - only copy of it I could find online.

Enjoy.

http://www.songstube.net/video.php?title=Beep%20Beep&artistid=13554&a...

Aaaand... the original...early 1960s I think: The Little Nash Rambler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4W7oZBhAJg 

Yes an oldie but a goodie that one. Originally done in 1958 (!) by a group called The Playmates. It reached #4 on the US charts in July 1958. Nash Rambler, not Volkswagen.

A change in tempo like that is called accelerando.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beep_Beep_ (song)

It's funny, the songs that stick. This one was very significant for me.
Our next door neighbours (a horse and cart dairy) owned two dairy farms out in the Hills District of Sydney -
Baulkham Hills: 400 acres and Winston Hills: 250 acres.... they started receiving small offers to buy both.
Turned out there had been a rezoning of properties from Agricultural to Residential...they ended up getting 2 million pounds.
As a 16 year old...I held that cheque in my hand. The "boss", had always wanted a Nash as a kid... he went out and bought a
band new Nash Rambler, took all of us teenagers out to the sub-division and we all got to drive the Rambler (my first drive)...all 200hp of it.
You can guess the song that we were all singing as we drove. "Beep-Beep..Beep-Beep......." It had ample "accelerando".

Modern pop bands don't seem to do fun car songs any more. Can you imagine One Direction or Justin Bieber doing a song about how cool their car is? Compare with the Beach Boys - 409, Little Deuce Coupe, Shut Down, Cherry Cherry Coupe, Custom Machine, Spirit of America, etc etc. Bruce Johnson (who later joined the Beach Boys) also did Three Window Coupe and Hey Little Cobra with the Ripchords.

Maybe most of the youngsters don't know about Nash / Rambler. Nash Motors was first formed in 1916, and in 1937 became a division of the Kelvinator company (yes, the maker of fridges). They were the first US maker to introduce cars in the so-called compact, and subcompact classes, and thanks to Kelvinator introduced the industry's first single-unit heating and air-conditioning unit in 1953. The 'compact' car was the Nash Rambler, first built in 1950. It had Nash's 3-litre 82-hp flat-head straight 6, and late-40s US styling in miniature. The Nash Rambler was build as a convertible, sedan, hardtop, country wagon and delivery van. You might remember Lois Lane (Phyllis Coates) driving a Nash Rambler Custom Landau in the first black and white series of Superman on TV in 1952. Nash also built the 'subcompact' Nash Metropolitan, which was basically an Austin A40 with Nash bodywork. A tiny car by US standards of the day!

In 1954 Kelvinator bought the Hudson Motor Company and merged them with Nash to create the American Motors Corporation (AMC). Nash ended production of the little Nash Rambler in 1955, and replaced it with a larger model called the Rambler American. These were sold as Nashes, Ramblers and Hudsons, depending on the model, but in 1957 both the Nash and Hudson names came to an end and only Rambler continued on as a new 'marque' in its own right. The 1958 Rambler Ambassador marked AMC's entry into the normal US-style mid and full-size segment, continued in the '60s with the Rambler Rebel and Classic. From 1966 the Rambler name was retired and replaced by the 'AMC' badge. AMC bought Jeep in 1970 and enjoyed success in the 1970s, but suffered problems in the 1980s. AMC were bailed out by Renault in 1985, and were taken over by Chrysler in 1987.

Interestingly, the 1960s Australian agency for Rambler was Sydney's LNC Industries, who also owned the Volkswagen distributor/dealer Lanock Motors. Large V8 Rambler Ambassor and later Matador models were locally CKD assembled by AMI in Melbourne, and distributed and sold here by LNC Industries. A popular buyer for the big Ramblers was the police highway patrols, as well as government for VIPs and ministers. LNC also sold Jeeps in Australia (LNC lost the Land Rover franchise when Leyland was formed in 1973). LNC continued to sell Australian-assembled Ramblers until 1978, long after the 'Rambler' name had been replaced by 'AMC' in the USA.

Not to mention Chuck Berry [any relation, Matt?] and 'Maybellene'.

Absolutely Greg. Great song that. Brian Wilson was a huge Chuck Berry fan (Surfin' USA is just Sweet Little Sixteen with different lyrics!)

The car song that resonates with me is Our Car Club, off the Beach Boys' 1963 Little Deuce Coupe album. Have a listen to this - close-to-home lyrics, fantatsic tune with sensational drumming, and the usual stunning Beach Boys harmonies. This is an album well worth getting if you're a car fan; every track is great. No one does songs like these any more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHtcxFs5R8s 

Lots of covers of 'Route 66' too...I liked Chuck Berrys best:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VU8qKvmOtY 
and,
Janis Joplins 'Mercedes Benz'...although she drove a psychedelic 356 just like her "friends".

My favourite car related vinyl:
Produced by Jeurgen Barth on the 'Fa, Porsche AG' label....Porsche Sound History.
Engine sounds of all of the significant Porsches, starting with Number 1 in 1948 through to a Gruppe 'C' 956 in 1982.
A different type of car music?

Have just played The Seekers - Future Road, top syncopated guitar work from the 'boys'.