In my introduction a week or so ago, I briefly referenced the hit song 'Riding With Private Malone'...now, more of the background and story.
Although I was a fan of the song when it came out in 2001, I really had no clue my '66 Vette had anything in common with the Corvette in the song. A year after topping the charts, I received an email from and NCRS member in the Great White North (hi J&B)...I was sent a link and told to check out a webpage. Even thought the page has long been deleted, I'd like to repost some of the article here:
In my excitement, I found the email address of Thom Shepherd (co-author of the song) and wrote him...this was part of his response:
As for changes in the lyrics of the song, Thom also mentioned the following:
Thanx for reading,
Jack
Although I was a fan of the song when it came out in 2001, I really had no clue my '66 Vette had anything in common with the Corvette in the song. A year after topping the charts, I received an email from and NCRS member in the Great White North (hi J&B)...I was sent a link and told to check out a webpage. Even thought the page has long been deleted, I'd like to repost some of the article here:
American Memory Filled with Pvt. Malones
By WALTER CARTER
By WALTER CARTER
The song started like thousands of other Nashville songs, with Newton seeing Shepherd perform some of his own material and inviting him to co-write.
"It started with a picture this guy had found of the original owner standing in front of his car. He had researched it to find out more about the guy. Thom had the idea and the part about the note, and he had the name Malone."
As I was reading the article, there was a lot about it that was familiar. For example, I had a website dedicated to my '66 Corvette. I had researched the original owner and had a picture of him standing by the Vette. Then, at the bottom of the webpage, there was the clincher...it was a small picture of my Vette (taken from my website).In my excitement, I found the email address of Thom Shepherd (co-author of the song) and wrote him...this was part of his response:
"Yours is the site Wood mentioned! We got a book from the library and picked out a silver-pearl '66 as the one we were writing about. When I found your site, I was thrilled! Perfect color and everything.
I'm sure as a car buff you've heard the story time and again about guys finding their dream car in a barn for pennies on the dollar. That idea was my initial inspiration, along with a story I had read as a child about a guy with a haunted car. I hope you don't mind - I used the picture of the original owner standing by the Vette on some promo CDs I made - everyone wanted to know who it was and where I got it!
I wanted to get in touch with you to ask permission but didn't find any contact info on your wonderful website. Too bad we didn't have your car for the video!"
As it turns out, Thom wound up getting in touch with the Nashville Corvette Club (via their website) and secured a red '66 Corvette for the video. Too bad he never mentioned my Vette or website to the Nashville webmaster...we were close internet friends.As for changes in the lyrics of the song, Thom also mentioned the following:
"Thought you'd like to know - the original line we wrote in the song was "what she called a Chevy...was a silver-pearl Corvette". We decided on the year '66 instead - it was easier to sing and nailed the Viet Nam thing.
Another line we changed was "it was dated 1965 and this is what he wrote". We wanted to be clever, showing that Malone bought the '66 new in the fall of '65. Then we thought it would confuse too many people. So we made it "the date was 1966 and this is what he wrote." (Note: The reference to purchasing the Corvette in the fall of 1965 reflects the date of November 1965 on the original photos posted on my website.)
I hope you found this background story interesting. You never know how the info and pictures you may publish on a website can get used...I was surprised, thrilled and honored. And for those of you that are not familiar with the song, you can check out the online video: CLICK HERE (Almost forgot...Thom is the person playing the role of Private Malone in the video. How many people knew that?)Thanx for reading,
Jack
Yes you never know......
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