Joyce Green – Black Cadillac

I caught you cheatin’ and runnin’ round
And now I’m gonna put you in a hole in the ground
I’m gonna ride to your funeral
Daddy, in a black Cadillac…. Joyce Green 1959

Joyce was only 19 and she didn’t play around in this song. How great are those lyrics? She not only sings this song…she owns it and you don’t want on Joyce’s bad side. Her voice is electric. It’s a downright shame she didn’t do much more.  The quality is great.

When I heard this I thought I died and went to rockabilly heaven. A man named Tommy Holder is playing guitar and does he ever. This wasn’t a hit but it’s a treasure to find. Joyce embarked on a promotional tour with Carl Perkins to support the record. The record was never a hit and Joyce did not record again until the 1970s. These later recordings were lost in a fire… and that is sad.

The song was a reworking of an old blues number by Buddy Moss, with Moss’s  V8 Ford replaced by a flashy Cadillac.

In 1959, Joyce wrote the song Black Cadillac with her sister Doris. She played the song for Arlen Vaden who arranged a recording session for her at KLCN in Blytheville, Arkansas. Joyce sang and played rhythm guitar on the record which included the song Tomorrow on the A-side and Black Cadillac on the B-side. I can’t believe this was a B side. This was her only release…the single Tomorrow/Black Cadillac.

The other musicians on the record included Tommy Holder on guitar, Teddy Redell on piano, Scotty Kuykendall on bass and Harvey Farley on drums. The record was released on Vaden Records 1959. Vaden Records, based in Trumann (Poinsett County), started as a mail-order company featuring gospel music. It soon grew into a regional studio that released music by such blues and early rock and roll artists as Bobby Brown, Teddy Riedel, Larry Donn, and many others who went on to regional and national fame.

Black Cadillac

I caught you cheatin’ and runnin’ round
And now I’m gonna put you in a hole in the ground
I’m gonna ride to your funeral
Daddy, in a black Cadillac
Oh yeah, you think you won
Oh baby, but you can’t come back
Now, I’m gonna bump you off
Gonna tell you the reason why
You’re worth more to me dead daddy
Than you is alive
I’m gonna ride to your funeral
Daddy, in a black Cadillac
Oh yeah, you think you won
Oh baby, but you can’t come back

I’m gonna buy me a pistol
A great big forty-five
I’m gonna bring you back baby, dead or alive
I’m gonna ride to your funeral
Daddy, in a black Cadillac
Oh yeah, you think you won
Oh baby, but you can’t come back

I’ll hire a black Cadillac
To drive you to your grave
I’m gonna be there baby
Throw that mud in your face
I’m gonna ride to your funeral
Daddy, in a black Cadillac
Oh yeah, you think you won
Oh baby, but you can’t come back
I’ll wear a black mink coat
A diamond ring on my hand
I’m gonna put you under ground
I’ll find myself another man
I’m gonna ride to your funeral
Daddy, in a black Cadillac
Oh yeah, you think you won
Oh baby, but you can’t come back

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

38 thoughts on “Joyce Green – Black Cadillac”

  3. how did you come across that one? I’d never heard it or of her. Pretty fiery…not a bad little ditty. Surprised some feisty country lady didn’t cover it to greater attention in 80s or 90s.

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    1. I read it in an interview that an artists mentioned her….I can’t remember who…I checked it out and liked it….yea it’s asking to be covered.

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      1. It’s kind of strange the record didn’t go anywhere. The tune is pretty good. Perhaps lack of promotion. Evidently, her tour with Larry Donn and Carl Perkins wasn’t enough. Maybe the record company lost faith in her. Too bad.

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      1. One of the reasons I liked the Blasters so much, their roots. There are so many cool women rockabilly performers. One of the takes I have is on the lesser known folks like her. When I was younger I wanted to be Gene Vincent.

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      2. I want to read a book about him…I have learned more through Beatle books when they associated with him than any other…they were scared of him lol.

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      3. “The Catman” . I have a Robert Gordon take coming up. He turned me onto a bunch of that old rockabilly. He has a song called ‘The Catman” . I think Lennon was a big fan. Gene was the man for all those guys. a little more greasy than Elvis. Plus he had Chris Gallup on guitar.

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      4. The thing about Gene Vincent that influenced me the most is that echo…that slapback echo he had on his records…it was a thing of beauty.

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      6. The sound on that guitar is awesome man. Thanks for that. I could listen to this stuff all day… I’m going to dig around for some more.

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