"The Little Old Lady (from Pasadena)" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | ||||
Single by Jan and Dean | ||||
from the album The Little Old Lady From Pasadena | ||||
B-side | "My Mighty G.T.O." | |||
Released | June 8, 1964 | |||
Recorded | March 21, 1964 | |||
Studio | United Western (Hollywood, California) | |||
Genre | Car song [1] | |||
Length | 2:45 | |||
Label | Liberty | |||
Songwriter(s) | Jan Berry, Don Altfeld, Roger Christian [2] | |||
Producer(s) | Jan Berry for Screen Gems, Inc. | |||
Jan and Dean singles chronology | ||||
|
"The Little Old Lady (from Pasadena)" is a song written by Don Altfeld, Jan Berry and Roger Christian, and recorded by 1960s American pop singers Jan and Dean. Singer/songwriter P.F. Sloan sings the falsetto part usually sung by Dean Torrence, while Dean sings one of the backup parts. This was the first time P.F. sang the falsetto on a single, although P.F. had already sung some falsetto on the last album Dead Man’s Curve/The New Girl In School.
Jan & Dean reworked the lyrics from "The Little Old Lady (from Pasadena)" in 1967, renaming the track "Tijuana" and releasing it as a single that same year. The lyrics now contained thinly-veiled references to marijuana use. [3] "Tijuana" was to be included on the act's final album Carnival of Sound, completed in 1969, but the LP went unreleased for several decades. The record was circulated as a bootleg until it garnered official release in 2010. [4]
The song was performed live by The Beach Boys at Sacramento Memorial Auditorium on August 1, 1964, for inclusion on their No. 1 album Beach Boys Concert . The Beach Boys, and particularly Brian Wilson, who co-wrote several of Jan & Dean's biggest surf hits, had supported Jan & Dean in the recording studio to initiate them in the surf music genre.
The origins of "The Little Old Lady (from Pasadena)" stem from a very popular Dodge ad campaign in southern California that launched in early 1964. [5] Starring actress Kathryn Minner, the commercials showed the white-haired elderly lady speeding down the street (and sometimes a drag strip) driving a modified Dodge. She would stop, look out the window and say "Put a Dodge in your garage, Hon-ey!". The song soon followed and Minner enjoyed great popularity until she died in 1969. [6]
On December 18, 1949, on an episode of the Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy radio show with June Allyson, a joke about a used horse being owned by an old lady in Pasadena was made. (See Old Time Radio Show Downloads, etc. for first hand material.) It appears evident by the audience reaction to this joke that this was a well-known running gag by this time. Later that week, on the December 23, 1949 radio episode of My Favorite Husband, Lucille Ball's character Liz Cooper jokes about getting a used sleigh "only pulled by an elderly reindeer from Pasadena." Both her character's husband, George Cooper (played by Richard Denning) and the studio audience laugh at the reference. In 1958, Alfred Hitchcock uses the phrase “a little old lady from Pasadena” in one of his intros for his TV series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”. "The Little Old Lady (from Pasadena)" was a folk archetype in Southern California in the mid-20th century. Part of this lore was that many an elderly man who died in Pasadena would leave his widow with a powerful car that she rarely, if ever, drove, such as an old Buick Roadmaster, or a vintage 1950s Cadillac, Ford, Packard, Studebaker, DeSoto, or La Salle. According to the story, used car salesmen would tell prospective buyers that the previous owner of a vehicle was "a little old lady from Pasadena who only drove it to church on Sundays," thus suggesting the car had little wear. [7]
The session musicians who played on this record (who were collectively known as The Wrecking Crew) included Leon Russell on piano; Tommy Tedesco, Bill Pitman and Billy Strange on guitar; Ray Pohlman and Jimmy Bond on bass; and Hal Blaine and Earl Palmer on drums. [8] Backing vocals were provided by The Honeys. [9]
In 1964, the song reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, [10] and number one on Canada's RPM chart. [11]
During the 1960s, the term became a popular punchline for many comedians, particularly Johnny Carson, who often invoked it when he took The Tonight Show to Los Angeles before permanently moving it there in 1972.
In "the Gunslinger", the last episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show to be filmed (though it was not the last aired), Rob dreams he is a sheriff in the Old West, where a gun salesman (Allan Melvin) tries to sell him a pistol, telling him "This gun was only fired once -- to kill a little old lady in Pasadena".
The song was one of many California related songs played throughout "Sunshine Plaza" in the original Disney California Adventure. [12]
The Dead Kennedys satirized the concept in their own song "Buzzbomb from Pasadena," where an elderly driver likewise terrorizes the city with her driving before getting into a shootout with police at a 7-Eleven
The song is featured in the Animaniacs episode "Little Old Slappy from Pasadena", where Slappy Squirrel drives all over town to deliver a letter. The episode ends with her revealing that she never took driving lessons and being arrested.
The song is featured on the 1993 kids' surf-rock CD, "Camp California: Where The Music Never Ends;" it is performed by Kath Soucie, Nancy Cartwright, Jess Harnell, Hal Rayle and Susan Boyd.
Jan and Dean were an American rock duo consisting of William Jan Berry and Dean Ormsby Torrence. In the early 1960s, they were pioneers of the California Sound and vocal surf music styles popularized by the Beach Boys.
The Fantastic Baggys were an American surf and hot rod group, created by P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri. The studio group released several unsuccessful singles. They released one album internationally, Tell 'Em I'm Surfin' (1964) on Imperial Records, and several singles and albums only in South Africa, where they proved to be briefly popular.
Philip Gary "Flip" Sloan, known professionally as P. F. Sloan, was an American singer and songwriter. During the mid-1960s, he wrote, performed, and produced many Billboard Top 20 hits for artists such as Barry McGuire, the Searchers, Jan and Dean, Herman's Hermits, Johnny Rivers, the Grass Roots, the Turtles, and the Mamas and the Papas.
"A Taste of Honey" is a pop standard written by Bobby Scott and Ric Marlow. It was originally an instrumental track written for the 1960 Broadway version of the 1958 British play A Taste of Honey which was also made into the film of the same name in 1961. The original and a later recording by Herb Alpert in 1965 earned the song four Grammy Awards.
Virginia Lee Gregg was an American actress known for her many roles in radio dramas and television series.
The Honeys were an American girl group, formed in Los Angeles in 1958, that initially comprised sisters Marilyn, Diane, and Barbara Rovell. Barbara was later replaced by their cousin, Ginger Blake. After 1962, the Rovell Sisters were rechristened "the Honeys" by the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson, who envisioned the group as a female counterpart to his band. Wilson served as the Honeys' record producer and chief songwriter, and later married Marilyn in late 1964.
"Be True to Your School" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1963 album Little Deuce Coupe. Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, it was issued as a single on October 28, 1963. There are two versions of this song: the album version, and the single version, which added cheerleader yells by the girl group The Honeys in between verses. The song features the melody of the University of Wisconsin's fight song, "On, Wisconsin!", although it is a tribute to Hawthorne High School, which the Wilson brothers attended. Hawthorne High School's fight song uses the same melody as "On, Wisconsin!".
"Shut Down" is a song written by Brian Wilson and Roger Christian for the American rock band the Beach Boys. The primary melody is a twelve-bar blues. On March 4, 1963, it was released as the B-side of the single "Surfin' U.S.A.", three weeks ahead of the album of the same name on which both tracks appeared. Capitol Records released it again later that year on the album Little Deuce Coupe. The single peaked at number 23 in the US on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and number 34 in the UK.
"Don't Back Down" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys and the final track on their 1964 album All Summer Long. Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, the lyrics describe a group of surfers who "don't back down from that wave", explaining that they "gotta be a little nuts" to show the girls "who's got guts". It was the group's last surfing-themed song until 1968's "Do It Again".
Roger Val Christian was an American radio personality and songwriter from Buffalo, New York. After moving to California in 1959, he became a lyricist for the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson. From the early to mid-1960s, they wrote many songs together, mostly about cars, including the singles "Little Deuce Coupe" (1963), "Shut Down" (1963), and "Don’t Worry Baby" (1964).
"I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" is a song from the 1956 musical My Fair Lady, with music by Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. It was originally performed by Rex Harrison as Professor Henry Higgins who also performed it in the 1964 film version.
Kathryn Elizabeth Minner, sometimes credited as Katherine Minner, was an American character actress who specialized in playing "little old ladies" in movies, on various television shows, and in a series of television commercials for Southern California Dodge dealers.
"Dead Man's Curve" is a 1964 hit song by Jan and Dean whose lyrics detail a teen street race gone awry. It reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and number 39 in Canada. The song was written and composed by Brian Wilson, Artie Kornfeld, Roger Christian, and Jan Berry at Wilson's mother's house in Santa Monica. It was part of the teenage tragedy song phenomenon of that period, and one of the most popular such selections of all time. "Dead Man's Curve" was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008.
"Way Down Yonder in New Orleans" is a popular song with music by John Turner Layton Jr. and lyrics by Henry Creamer. First published in 1922, it was advertised by Creamer and Layton as "A Southern Song, without A Mammy, A Mule, Or A Moon", a dig at some of the Tin Pan Alley clichés of the era.
A car song is a song with lyrics or musical themes pertaining to car travel. Though the earliest forms appeared in the 1900s, car songs emerged in full during the 1950s as part of rock and roll and car culture, but achieved their peak popularity in the West Coast of the United States during the 1960s with the emergence of hot rod rock as an outgrowth of the surf music scene. Though this popularity declined by the late 1960s, cars remain a frequently used subject matter in pop music into the 21st century.
"Sidewalk Surfin'" is a song with music by Brian Wilson and lyrics by Roger Christian, which was recorded by 1960s American pop singers Jan and Dean. The song was recorded as a single and then appeared on the 1964 album Ride the Wild Surf, and later on the Little Old Lady from Pasadena album. The B-side of the single is "When It's Over." "Sidewalk Surfin'" reached number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 31, 1964, which was Jan and Dean's lowest-charting single in a year and a half since the release of their number one hit single "Surf City." Jan and Dean were known for their music of the 1960s surf era with songs like "Dead Man's Curve," "Drag City," and "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena."
"The New Girl in School" is a song written by Jan Berry, Roger Christian, Brian Wilson, and Bob Norberg for the American rock duet Jan and Dean. It was the B-side of their hit single "Dead Man's Curve". Both songs were released on their album Dead Man's Curve / The New Girl In School. "The New Girl From School" charted at number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100. In Canada the song was co-charted with "Dead Man's Curve" and they reached number 39.
This is the discography for American rock duo Jan and Dean.
"You Really Know How to Hurt a Guy" is a song whose music was composed by Jan Berry, Jill Gibson, and Roger Christian, which was recorded by 1960s American pop singers, Jan and Dean. The song was recorded and released as a single and then appeared on the 1965 album Jan & Dean Golden Hits, Volume 2. The B-side of the single is "It's As Easy As 1,2,3." "You Really Know How to Hurt A Guy" reached up to number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 on July 10, 1965, which was their highest-charting single of the year on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, by edging "I Found a Girl" which charted at number 30 later in 1965. Jan and Dean were known for their music of the 1960s surf era with songs like "Dead Man's Curve," "Drag City," and "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena." This single marked the beginning of Jan & Dean getting away from their Surfing roots that they were known for.
Ida Moore was an American film and television actress.