"Hot Rod Lincoln" by Charley Ryan and the Livingston Brothers

I don't normally like to include songs that are basically talk-singing (otherwise, this blog would be nothing but Cake songs), but am making an exception for this one for four reasons:

1. It is about a cool car: a Model A with a Lincoln-Zephyr V12 engine.
2. It is a song written in response to another song (Arkie Shibley's 1951 hit "Hot Rod Race," in which a Ford and a Mercury were smoked by a "kid in a hopped-up Model A.")
3. The song mentions "going up the Grapevine Hill," which is the way we would drive from home to Los Angeles when I lived in Bakersfield (and is still the route when I visit).  
4. The original 1955 version by Charlie Ryan is less famous than a later 1971 version by Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen.  

"What's on Your Mind," by Joey & The Teenagers

Ahh...1950s doo wop. Always a solid source of songs with spoken words!

This installment comes courtesy of Joey & The Teenagers, an off-shoot of one of the earliest successes in rock music. Like a lot of teen music from the 50s, it's a whole lot of "I like her and I miss her but I don't know what she's thinking." Have you tried something novel: asking?

My darling
What is on your mind?
Why do you always keep me in the dark? 

Maybe one day, I'll know and understand
When I hold your hand in mine
What's on you your mind.