I had a busy weekend. Way too busy to finish my Matador at 21 mixtape. Much of my time was on the road, listening to the Little Steven’s Underground Garage station on XM. One of the last tracks we heard was Chuck Berry’s "No Money Down.” Not sure I’d heard it before. Or if I had I didn’t pay attention. This is the first time I noticed its lyrics about buying the process of buying a car:
Well Mister I want a yellow convertible
Four – door de Ville
With a Continental spare
And a wide chrome wheel
I want power steering
And power brakes
I want a powerful motor
With a jet off – take
I want air condition
I want automatic heat
And I want a full Murphy bed
In my back seat
I want short – wave radio
I want TV and a phone
You know I gotta talk to my baby
When I’m ridin’ aloneYes I’m gonna get that car
And I’m gonna head on down the road
Yeah, then I won’t have to worry
About that broken – down, raggedy FordI want four carburetors
And two straight exhausts
I’m burnin’ aviation fuel
No matter what the cost
I want railroad air horns
And a military spark
And I want a five – year guarantee
On everything I got
I want ten – dollar deductible
I want twenty dollar notes
I want thirty thousand liability
That’s all she wrote
The song is funny, I guess, because it flips the script on the wily car salesman. “I will accept your fanciful offer, if you accept my impossible list of features and demands.” It’s also pretty funny for me personally, as a auto former claims adjuster, because deductibles and the value of liability coverage are not often subjects of rock songs. Or really, any other pop culture artifact.
When I half-heard the song the first time, driving in my car just now, I assumed it was a later record made when TVs and phones were more common accessories.
But, no, this track was cut in 1955. Chuck Berry = Jules Verne.
