nuts and bolts and all four shocks

I mentioned to a hip-hop artist I know --

(I like saying that casually -- "a hip-hop artist I know"...he's the
only hip-hop artist I know...!)

that he ought to "cover" the rockabilly song made famous by Johnny Cash, "One Piece At A Time," and put his original urban styling on it.

I don't even know how I got familiar with that song in the first place, it seems like some things just soak into your awareness without you knowing where you got it...

Johnny Cash's voice, so amazing -- seemed to have some kind of extra dimension in it...and when he took that serious voice to this wonderfully silly song it was a joy to experience.

(When Cash died a few years ago a lawyer I knew said the two songs he liked best were "A Boy Named Sue" and "One Piece at a Time."  He likes the funny songs!)

The slogging sadness in the line, "...and sometimes I'd hang my head and cry"...
Then --
he "devises himself a plan" --

"Gonna ride around in style,
Drive everybody wild..." -- it's like "the audacity of hope" that Pres. Obama wrote about...

The way Johnny Cash speaks a lot of the lines, while singing others somehow makes the overall effect seem like the most sincere song you've ever heard sung, yet it's so funny, you like die laughing.

(spoken):  with a little bit of help from an A-daptor kit --
(sung):  we had that engine runnin' just-like-a-song!

--------------------------------
Written by W. Kemp


Recorded by Johnny Cash on 3/5/76

Number one - County Chart; Number 29 - Pop Chart



Well, I left Kentucky back in '49

An' went to Detroit workin' on a 'sembly line

The first year they had me puttin' wheels on cadillacs



Every day I'd watch them beauties roll by

And sometimes I'd hang my head and cry

'Cause I always wanted me one that was long and black.



One day I devised myself a plan

That should be the envy of most any man

I'd sneak it out of there in a lunchbox in my hand


Now gettin' caught meant gettin' fired

But I figured I'd have it all by the time I retired

I'd have me a car worth at least a hundred grand.



CHORUS

I'd get it one piece at a time

And it wouldn't cost me a dime

You'll know it's me when I come through your town

I'm gonna ride around in style

I'm gonna drive everybody wild

'Cause I'll have the only one there is around.



So the very next-- day-- when I punched in.

With my big lunchbox and with help from my friends

I left that day with a lunch box -- full of gears.

Now, I never considered myself a thief --

GM wouldn't miss just one little piece

Especially if I strung it out over several years.



The first day I got me a fuel pump

Next day I got me an engine and a trunk

Then I got me a transmission, and all-l of the chrome

The little things I'd get in my big lunchbox

Like nuts, an' bolts, and all four shocks

But the big stuff we snuck out in my buddy's mobile home.



Now, up to now my plan went all right

'Til we tried to put it all together one night

And that's when we noticed that something was definitely wrong.



The transmission was a '53

And the motor turned out to be a '73

And when we tried to put in the bolts -- all the holes were gone!



So we drilled it out so that it would fit

And with a little bit of help with an A-daptor kit

We had that engine runnin' just like a song!

Now the headlights were another sight

We had two on the left and one on the right

But when we pulled out the switch all three of 'em come on.



The back end looked kinda funny too

But we put it together and when we got through

Well, that's when we noticed that we only had one tail-fin.

About that time my wife walked out

And I could see in her eyes that she had her doubts

But she opened the door and said "Honey, take me for a spin."



So we drove up town just to get the tags

And I headed her right on down main drag

I could hear everybody laughin' for blocks around

But up there at the courthouse they didn't laugh

'Cause to type it up it took the whole staff

And when they got through the title weighed sixty pounds.



CHORUS

I got it one piece at a time

And it didn't cost me a dime

You'll know it's me when I come through your town

I'm gonna ride around in style

I'm gonna drive everybody wild

'Cause I'll have the only one there is around.



(Spoken) Ugh! Yow, RED RYDER

This is the COTTON MOUTH

In the PSYCHO-BILLY CADILLAC Come on



Huh, This is the COTTON MOUTH

And negatory on the cost of this mow-chine there RED RYDER

You might say I went right up to the factory

And picked it up, it's cheaper that way

Ugh!, what model is it?



Well, It's a '49, '50, '51, '52, '53, '54, '55, '56

'57, '58' 59' automobile...
[fading...]
It's a '60, '61, '62, '63, '64, '65, '66, '67

'68, '69, '70 automobile. ...

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