| "The Little Old Lady (from Pasadena)" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byJan 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 | |||
| Songwriters | Jan Berry, Don Altfeld,Roger Christian[2] | |||
| Producers | Jan Berry forScreen Gems, Inc. | |||
| Jan and Dean singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"The Little Old Lady (from Pasadena)" is a song written by Don Altfeld,Jan Berry andRoger Christian, and recorded by 1960s American pop singersJan and Dean.
The song was performed live byThe Beach Boys atSacramento Memorial Auditorium on August 1, 1964, for inclusion on their No. 1 albumBeach Boys Concert. The Beach Boys, and particularlyBrian 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 popularDodge ad campaign in southern California that launched in early 1964.[3] Starring actressKathryn 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.[4]
"The Little Old Lady (from Pasadena)" was afolkarchetype in Southern California in the mid-20th century. Part of this lore was that many an elderly man who died inPasadena would leave his widow with a powerful car that she rarely, if ever, drove, such as an oldBuick Roadmaster or a vintage 1950sCadillac,Ford,Packard,Studebaker orDeSoto. Supposedly,used car salesmen would tell prospective buyers that a vehicle's previous owner was "a little old lady from Pasadena who only drove it to church on Sundays," thus suggesting the car had little wear.[5]
The session musicians who played on this record (who were collectively known asThe Wrecking Crew) includedLeon Russell on piano;Tommy Tedesco,Bill Pitman andBilly Strange on guitar;Ray Pohlman andJimmy Bond on bass; andHal Blaine andEarl Palmer on drums.[6] Backing vocals were provided byThe Honeys.[7]
Singer/songwriterP. F. Sloan sings the falsetto part usually sung by Dean Torrence, while Dean sings one of the backup parts.[citation needed] This was the first time Sloan sang the falsetto on a single, although he had already sung some falsetto on the last albumDead Man’s Curve/The New Girl In School.
In 1964, the song reached number three on theBillboard Hot 100 chart,[8] and number one on Canada's RPM chart.[9]On the New Zealand Lever Hit Parade it peaked at #5[10]
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 tomarijuana use.[11] "Tijuana" was to be included on the act's final albumCarnival 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.[12]
During the 1960s, the phrase "little old lady from Pasadena" became a popular punchline for many comedians, particularlyJohnny Carson, who often invoked it when he tookThe Tonight Show to Los Angeles before permanently moving it there in 1972.
In "the Gunslinger", the last episode ofThe Dick Van Dyke Show to be filmed (though it was not the last aired), Rob dreams he is a sheriff in theOld 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 originalDisney California Adventure.[13]
TheDead 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 a7-Eleven
The song is featured in theAnimaniacs episode "Little Old Slappy from Pasadena", whereSlappy 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.
