The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #2897 Message #2449679
Posted By: Jim Dixon
25-Sep-08 - 09:26 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Two Fat Guys in a Hudson Hornet
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 3 Fat Guys in a Hudson Hornet
First, I found this interesting quote from Classic 'Road' trip: After 50 years, Kerouac's themes still resonate with readers, an article in the Columbus Dispatch:Junior Burke, chairman of writing at Naropa University in Boulder, Colo., recently described On the Road as "one of the truly defining works of American fiction," comparing it to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. "(But) instead of two guys on a raft on the Mississippi, it's two guys in a Hudson Hornet on the highways of America. I think it's something that young people still relate to."
So, does that mean the song is about Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady? Were they fat?
There is a song called TWO FAT GUYS IN A HUDSON HORNET by Randall Hylton. I found the following recordings:
Randall Hylton, "The Essential Randall Hylton"
Randall Hilton, on the Various Artists album "Prime Cuts of Bluegrass, Number 2"
J. Max McKee & the McKee Family, "Whoa Mule"
There is a sound sample of the McKee recording, from which I transcribed this:It was 1957*. Me and my cousin Alvin (or "Alan"?)
Was out in the back yard ropin'(?) an' a-pettin' the dog.
We heard a strange commotion, some'n' big loud approachin'.
We ran down to the hardtop road....
[*On the Road was published in 1957, although written in 1951. The Hudson Hornet was made from 1951 to 57.]