Charlie Ryan

A one-trick pony for sure. The truth is that though he is known for only one song, Charlie Ryan had a follow-up to Hot Rod Lincoln, called Side Car Cycle, which reached number 84 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the fall of 1960.

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Charlie Ryan:

• Hot Rod Lincoln – Credited to Charlie Ryan & The Timberline Riders, Hot Rod Lincoln was a Charlie Ryan original, co-written by H. W. Stevenson. Like Maybelline and Beep Beep, the story is that of a car chase, but unlike those two, we have the tale here of someone driving (in both senses) a vehicle to its utmost limits and beyond. We are presented with the whole macho culture of physical achievement for its own sake, replete with the run-ins with authority: the law, “the cops was after my hot rod Lincoln,” and parents, “my pappy said son you’re gonna drive me to drinkin’.” It fought its way up the charts (not all that high up, either) with a competing version by Johnny Bond. In the early 70s it was revived by Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, who, true to his assumed name, took complete command of the song. From the fall of 1960.