Saturday Morning CarTune: I Can’t Drive 55

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The red rocker himself, Sammy Hagar, supplies this week’s CarTune, “I Can’t Drive 55.”

 

 

Hagar scored a huge commercial hit with “I Can’t Drive 55” back n 1984, when the national double-nickel speed law was still in effect. The Southern California native was pulled over in a rental car in upstate New York doing 62 mph. “I can’t drive 55,” he remembers telling the state trooper. “I grabbed a paper and a pen, and I swear the guy was writing the ticket and I was writing the lyrics. I got to Lake Placid, I had a guitar set up there. And I wrote that song there on the spot.”

The performer, restaurateur, and tequila marketer also happens to be a devoted car enthusiast with a special passion for 12-cylinder Ferraris. He says he first got hooked on cars and the storied Italian marque when fellow musician J. Geils gave him a ride in his 250 GT Lusso. Currently, his favorite vintage-era Ferrari is the 275 GTS.

The video for “I Can’t Drive” is pure cheese, an artifact of the pantomime era on early MTV, when video directors had the artists act out their lyrics one syllable at a time. But the song itself holds up well today, with its infectious melody and sing-along lyrics. Enjoy.

 

3 thoughts on “Saturday Morning CarTune: I Can’t Drive 55”

  1. Who remembers the Citizens’ Coalition for Rational Traffic Laws? Their main goal was to repeal the national 55mph speed limit and this was the unofficial anthem. I remember when a hotel parking lot full patrol cars at a state sheriffs’ convention mysteriously sprouted “Repeal the 55mph Speed Limit” bumper stickers overnight.

  2. They became the National Motorists Association and are still campaigning against frivolous stop signs, left lane bandits, red light cameras and numerous other injustices. This year is the 40th anniversary of the implementation of 55mph limit. Instead of the general public becoming upset, they invited the bureacrats to climb into the passenger seat and tell them what else was wrong with their car and their driving.

    http://www.motorists.org/

  3. Inspired lyrics? Definitely. But I could never get into Hagar’s music. He can sing, but his songwriting skill is … not the most formidable.

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