The 1964 Corvair — a teenage car adventure song
© Lannie Dietle 2025
The first car I ever had was a sixty-four Corvair.
One day she hit a wee bump and jumped up in the air.
When she came back down, she was spinnin' like a top.
We slid out in a hay field — I didn't think she'd ever stop.
That car was out a balance, with the engine in the rear.
It be an understatement to say she over-steered.
Turnin' left at a crossroads the back swung out so far
ya needed the side window ta see the path of the car.
Comin' down that Wallace hill, a tire dropped to the berm.
I nudged that car a little left, and she began ta squirm.
Snap oversteer was new to me, but I learned that very night.
When I tried to counter-steer, she swung from left to right.
The more I tried to steer that car, the more I was loosin' ground,
until finally that doggone car turned the whole damn way around.
There I was a-goin backwards, in the dark down Wallace hill.
Lookin' out the back window, tryin' not to get me killed.
With the motor on the downhill end, that car was a bit more stable.
Twistin' my head way around, I drove the best as I was able.
I drove backward down that long, long hill without a-getting killed,
then the car, she went clear sideways, and we landed in a field.
The last time she spun on me, the road was a glare of ice.
At just five miles per hour, she swapped ends purdy nice.
It happened in slow motion, as the rear end came around.
We bounced off a snow bank, and slid backwards without a sound.
This is my Corvair story from back when I was just a kid.
I didn't need to go very fast to have me a hellish skid.
Nader said they was unsafe when drove at any speed.
Now, I don't really like that guy — but I just can't disagree.
Oh, I really don't much like that guy, but I sure can't disagree.
The thing that amazes me is that even though my Corvair left the roadway on various occasions — including one event that isn't described in the song — I never hit anything solid enough to wreck the car. In fact, that car never received so much as a scratch in any of the incidents.
Even though most of my songs are written in a bluegrass style, this one is an Irish-style folk song. Irish traditional music is one of the historic roots of bluegrass, so writing this teenage car adventure song in an Irish idiom felt like a natural way to explore the traditions that helped shape the bluegrass music I love.
L. Dietle
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