----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2002 10:02
PM
Subject: [Chevelle-List] SS 396 - The
Song
Hi all,
I was in my local mega music store over the
weekend and saw a 4 CD collection of car songs by Rhino Records. Looking at
the playlist, I saw a song from 1966 by Paul Revere & the Raiders title
"SS 396". I was around then, and into cars and music, but I never heard
of this song and I wasn't about to spend $80 to hear it. I did the next best
thing and searched the internet.
It was made as a promotional 45 single for Chevy
dealers and had a Corvair single on the B-side. It's very 60's California
surfer/car music and sounds more like Jan and Dean than Paul Revere &
the Raiders. (At this point, there's probably a lot of people out there saying
"who the hell is he talking about and what's a 45?) Anyway, the lyrics
follow:
SS 396
(L. Adessa/V. Benay)
Forget about your Hemis & your GTOs
I've got a new machine &
she really goes
Gonna pass you in the drags & you know darn well
Gettin' beaten by a Porcupine V8 Chevelle
Draggin' it up now, you'd
better be quick
Nothin' could outrun my SS 396
There's lots of chrome goodies sittin' under the hood
She looks real
pretty like a tough one should
On her red-line tires, she sits real mean
She's the coolest hot one you've ever seen
Crusin' the highways, I get
my kicks
Everybody's diggin' my SS 396
(x2):
Look at her go (look at her go)
She sits real low (she sits
real low)
Feel her tires grip the road
Big green Ford (big green Ford)
& won't let herself show (let herself show)
Feel the rear end down
below
I'll take you for a ride & it's really a treat
Just strap
yourself into a bucket seat
& the 4-speed Tranny is startin' to wind
We'll know that Super Sport wants to get off the line
Crusin' the
highways, I get my kicks
Nothin' can match my SS 396
(repeat
title & fade)
(I didn't write the lyrics, so I can't defend them,
and I have no idea what they mean by a "Porcupine V8".)
I found a 47 second Real Audio (.ram) clip and one of
the young studs who works for me found the full song (2 minutes, 27 seconds)
in .mp3 format at one of his music network websites. He says it's
definitely rare because the music search engine took an hour to find it. After
you listen to it a few times, it really grows on you. If anyone wants a copy
of either file (or both), let me know and I'll email it off-list over the
weekend. The .ram file is 191 kB and the .mp3 file is 2.3 mB. I connect with a
56K modem, so I'd like to send it out just a couple of times. But I'll be
happy to send it to anyone who wants it.
Mike
