Vince Taylor – Brand New Cadillac

How you find new music can sometimes be surprising. I was looking for a guy with the nickname of Prince Stash, his name is Stanislaus Klossowski de Rola. He hung out with a lot of sixties rock stars and I found out he played in Vince Taylor’s band. I started to listen to Vince Taylor and his rockabilly is really good. I knew I heard his name before and it was when I covered the Clash’s version of this song. 

Vince was born in England but his family emigrated to the United States in the early 1950s, settling in New Jersey, where Taylor was exposed to the new rock and roll scene. While living here he became exposed to the greats like Presley, Little Richard, and Gene Vincent. In the late 1950s, Taylor returned to the UK, where he adopted the stage name Vince Taylor inspired by American culture. It was probably the smart thing to do at the time. The UK treated the 50s rock stars much better than America did. 

Brand New Cadillac was released in 1959. It was the B side to a song called Pledging My Love. Taylor wrote the song but Tony Sheridan is credited with the cool guitar riff running through the song. The song’s riff reminds me of the original Batman riff…or really the other way around.

In the mid-sixties, he and his band The Playboys co-headlined a tour with the Rolling Stones with “Prince Stash” Stanislaus Klossowski de Rola playing percussion. Jimmy Page and others were also at one time part of the Playboys. I’ve been reading about his live performances and watching some concert footage…and he was a hell of a performer. I can see why he built a following for his live performances. 

Bowie has said that Vince Taylor was a huge influence on Ziggy Stardust. He said in the early seventies his name was coming up again as in Golden Earring’s song “Just Like Vince Taylor.”

 Taylor had some problems with drugs in the sixties and his career started to go downhill as he became unstable. In the 1970s, he briefly attempted comebacks in Europe, but he could not recapture his earlier success. He lived a nomadic life, working odd jobs, including as a mechanic in Switzerland.

He passed away in 1991 from cancer. 

David Bowie: “I met him in Gioconda one day and the guy was right out of his tree. I mean, this guy was bonkers, absolutely the genuine article. I can’t remember if he said he was an alien or the Son of God but he might have been a bit of both. And then one time we were on Tottenham Court Road… He dragged out this world map and we were crouching on all fours outside Tottenham Court Road Tube Station and he was showing me where all the aliens had their bases throughout: under the Arctic and in this mountain… And business people stepping over our map. I think: what the hell am I doing in the middle of Russia with this bonkers American looking at the map of the world and I thought there’s something in this, I’m gonna remember this. This is just too good.”

Clips of Taylor live

Brand New Cadillac

Well my baby drove off in a brand new Cadillac
Ooh, my baby drove off in a brand new Cadillac
Well she looked at me, daddy, I ain’t never comin’ back

I said baby-baby-baby won’t you listen to me
Come on sugar, come on hear my plea
Well she looked at my Ford, we’ll never agree
Cadillac car! Oh yeah!

Well the Caddy’s rollin’ and going ’bout ninety-five
Well the Caddy’s rollin’ and going ’bout ninety-five
Well me and my Ford, we’re right by here side

I said baby-baby-baby won’t you listen to me
Come on baby, come on hear my plea
Turn that big car around, come on back to me
Hangin’ on Scotty, here we go!

Well my baby took off in a brand new Cadillac
Ooh, my baby took off in a brand new Cadillac
Well she looked at me, daddy, I ain’t never comin’ back

I ain’t never comin’ back
I ain’t never comin’ back
I ain’t never comin’ back

 

 

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, 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. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

38 thoughts on “Vince Taylor – Brand New Cadillac”

    1. Oh Bowie said he did…by that time Jim… Vince was way out there because of substances and other things. When Bowie says that…you probably are.

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    1. Yea…it all started because of Stash… I read about him in the Keith Richards book and some Beatles books…Vince was a different kind of guy no doubt.

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      3. Yes, they were called Golden Earings in the 60s but I didn’t realise they released so many singles and albums during that period. Instant Poetry and Bombay are the only other two singles I have. Moontan is the only album.

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      1. “Brand New Cadillac” was a real hit. An he was extremely entertaining. Then came the usual stuff: drugs, crashes, comeback attempts… you know what it’s like, you’ve heard it a thousand times from others.

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  7. I have this on a Rockabilly box set called Rockin’ Bones. I was inspired to seek it out after discovering that the Clash’s version was a cover. You’re right about the “Batman” similarity. That riff just oozes danger to me. The poor guy really does sound like he lost it. Too bad.

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    1. Does that CD have Ronnie Dawson on it by chance?
      It surprised me that Tony Sheridan was the one that did the riff….buy yea Taylor ran into some major problems.

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      1. Yep, it’s a 4 disc set and that’s the first cut. It also has “Black Cadillac” by Joyce Green, which I believe you’ve featured. It’s all on YouTube too.

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      2. Oh the Joyce Green cut is probably one of my favorite rockabilly tracks of all time. Cool…I’ll check it out thanks!

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      3. 🙂 I know what you mean about “everything felt right.” Well said. I hope you brought the kleenex with you. Some of the scenes were hard to take. What did Bailey think of it?

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      4. He LOVED it…and Jen is not a big Dylan fan although she went with me to see him one time…she loved it and was crying at the end.

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  11. He was a performer, that’s for sure! I’m sure the general ignorance from the public back then (earlyish 60s) must have meant relatively unchecked access to all the uppers, overs, sideways, downers available at the time. That doesn’t help if you’re a wild and crazy guy already.

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  12. I somehow missed this post earlier. I never heard of him… I knew that the Clash’s ‘Brand New Cadillac’ wasn’t an original but didn’t know who did it first . Sounds OK, certainly a song that was well-suited to The Clash later on though

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    1. Went to see the Dylan movie…dude…even non Dylan fans would like it…it’s that damn good. If he doesn’t win something for this….no one should.

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