Friday Five: El Caminos
El Caminos are part car, part truck, part creepy, part cool. I wish I had one. Instead I’ll just listen to these songs, ranked in order of their El Camino concentration.
5. “It Takes a Man” – Chris Young
A young man is told about his girlfriend’s pregnancy while the pair is sitting in his daddy’s El Camino. If you think about it, that car is probably the place where the child was conceived.
4. “El Camino” – Jennifer Nettles Band
Before Nettles hit the big time with Sugarland, she recorded this frenetic country rocker for 2002 album Gravity: Drag Me Down. Consider it “Heads Carolina, Tails California”‘s scrappy, disillusioned offspring.
3. “Rachel’s Song” – James McMurtry
Drunk driving isn’t cool, kids, especially when you wreck your sweet ride and then leave it on the side of the road for the state troopers to find. All joking aside, if I had to pick a favorite McMurtry song, this one would probably be it.
2. “’69 El Camino” – Southern Culture on the Skids
This song, from Mojo Box, is sleazy surf rock at its best. Plus, if anyone on this list actually drives an El Camino, my guess is that it’s probably Mary, Rick, or Dave.
1. “El Camino” – Elizabeth Cook
Whilst watching Cook perform this song during one of the many AMA showcases, Pierce Greenberg tweeted “‘El Camino’ is the best creepy car song ever.” While I’m not sure about “ever,” it is definitely the very best creepy car song on this week’s list. Cook paints a hilariously clear picture of the El Camino driver, and surprise, he’s bemulleted.
Tagged In This Article
Chris Young // Elizabeth Cook // Friday Five // James McMurtry // Jennifer Nettles Band // Southern Culture on the Skids
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September 10, 2010 at 1:22 pm
They are creepy man. And not in a gangsta sort of way but in a perv sort of way.
September 10, 2010 at 2:53 pm
‘Honky Tonk band from Philadelphia’ is hard to say with a straight face but there is a band named Gas Money which is just that. They have a song called ‘El Camino Blues’ which is the stand out track on their album “Hopeless Love Affair’. Also included on that one is a pretty nice version of Charlie Feathers ‘Tongue Tied Jill’.
September 10, 2010 at 2:58 pm
I believe SheDaisy’s song “Lucky 4 U” {I think this is the title] has a line about keying an ex’s el camino. Just a brief el camino mention.
September 10, 2010 at 3:13 pm
There’s a skinhead hillbilly lawyer that tools around my town in a white El Camino. Definitely creepy all the way around.
The ending to that Elizabeth Cook song is just as creepy.
September 10, 2010 at 6:23 pm
Wouldn’t want to leave out Chris Hennessee’s (Nashville Songwriter) song aptly titled, “El Camino.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-69C4fDj2JA
September 10, 2010 at 6:51 pm
This is really an amazing list because every time I listen to the Elizabeth Cook song I picture James McMurtry behind the wheel of that El Camino with Jennifer Nettlesome on the seat cuddled up next to him! (lol)
I saw Southern Culture On The Skids live in concert a week ago and don’t know if they played their El Camino song? The volume level was so high I had to use earplugs and every song sounded kinda alike (ie like sonic mush). They are fun to watch perform live though!
September 11, 2010 at 1:24 am
I admit my dad used to have an El Camino when I was a little kid. Being a trucker, he used it only to run around town in, and go to his rig and back. Toward the end, the headliner fell out of it, so he just drove it without. It wa s a color I might describe as “Tabasco red.”
Surprised to see Southern Culture On The Skids mentioned here, as I figured they’d be too rock for this crowd. I saw them a couple times when in college, opening for other bands I actually wanted to see (and some friends were really into them). They’re better on record than live. I actually saw Gas Money once as well, oddly enough, and had almost forgotten about them until Howard mentioned them.
Isn’t it funny how the El Camino enjoys such notoriety, but the Ranchero, which was basically the same vehicle, has almost none?
September 11, 2010 at 5:38 am
Wow, great videos. I like especially the last video. sounds sooooo great!
Didn’t know them before i saw the video.. but also watched more videos of them on youtube and found it fantastic! thanks ;)
September 11, 2010 at 8:13 pm
The first El Camino song that came to my mind was Pat Greene’s “Feels Just Like It Should.” Haven’t heard that in forever. Don’t really remember whether or not it was any good though.
September 12, 2010 at 12:19 pm
I would add as a coda to the El Camino songs: Ryan Bingham’s reference to a Ranchero, Ford’s obscure but IMO cooler answer to the El Camino, in the song Bread & Water.
September 13, 2010 at 11:03 am
Mike & The Moonpies have a track called El Camino off their new record “The Real Country.”
Check out them doing most of the record here:
http://www.archive.org/details/matmp2010-09-02.matrix.flac
El Camino:
http://www.archive.org/download/matmp2010-09-02.matrix.flac/matmp2010-09-02.matrix.d1t08_ElCamino.mp3