Eddie Cochran – "Somethin' Else" (1959)

My car's out front and it's all mine

Just a ’41 Ford, not a ’59

Eddie Cochran died in a 1960 Ford – a Ford Consul Mark II, to be precise.  

Cochran was being driven to London to catch a flight back to the United States after touring England with fellow rock ’n’ roller Gene Vincent.  Vincent, the tour manager, and Cochran’s girlfriend were in the car with him when the driver lost control and crashed into a concrete lamppost.  Cochran was thrown from the car and suffered severe head injuries 

Cochran was ejected from the left rear
door when this car his a lamppost.

Cochran died the next day in a Bath hospital.  He was only 21 years old.

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Cochran – who for my money was much cooler than Elvis – is best known for his recording of “Summertime Blues.”  But I think “Somethin’ Else” (which absolutely drips with insouciance) is just as good a record.  

In the first two verses of that song, the singer expresses his admiration for a fine-lookin’ girl and an equally fine-lookin’ convertible – both of which seem utterly unattainable.  (The girl doesn’t notice him when they pass on the street, and he can’t even afford the price of a tank of gas, much less a new car.)

But the song has a happy ending.  In the last verse, we learn that the singer is in possession of both the girl and a car – albeit an old ’41 Ford, not a brand-new ’59 model.

The girl and the car are both somethin’ else – but what’s even more somethin’ else is livin’ the dream!

Click here to listen to Eddie Cochran’s “Something’ Else.”

Click here to buy the song from Amazon.