The Little Old Lady (from Pasadena)

"The Little Old Lady (from Pasadena)" is a song written by Don Altfeld, Jan Berry and Roger Christian, and recorded by 1960s American pop singers Jan and Dean.

"The Little Old Lady (from Pasadena)"
Single by Jan and Dean
from the album The Little Old Lady From Pasadena
B-side	"My Mighty G.T.O."
Released	June 8, 1964
Recorded	March 21, 1964
Studio	United Western (Hollywood, California)
Genre	Car song[1]
Length	2:45
Label	Liberty
Songwriter(s)	Jan Berry, Don Altfeld, Roger Christian[2]
Producer(s)	Jan Berry for Screen Gems, Inc.
Jan and Dean singles chronology
"Dead Man's Curve" (1964) "The Little Old Lady (from Pasadena)" (1964) "Ride The Wild Surf" (1964)

The song was performed live by The Beach Boys at Sacramento Memorial Auditorium on August 1, 1964, for inclusion on their No. 1 album Beach Boys Concert. The Beach Boys, and particularly Brian Wilson, who co-wrote several of Jan & Dean's biggest surf hits, had supported Jan & Dean in the recording studio to initiate them in the surf music genre.

Premise

The origins of "The Little Old Lady (from Pasadena)" stem from a very popular Dodge ad campaign in southern California that launched in early 1964.^[3] Starring actress Kathryn Minner, the commercials showed the white-haired elderly lady speeding down the street (and sometimes a drag strip) driving a modified Dodge. She would stop, look out the window and say "Put a Dodge in your garage, Hon-ey!". The song soon followed and Minner enjoyed great popularity until she died in 1969.^[4]

"The Little Old Lady (from Pasadena)" was a folk archetype in Southern California in the mid-20th century. Part of this lore was that many an elderly man who died in Pasadena would leave his widow with a powerful car that she rarely, if ever, drove, such as an old Buick Roadmaster or a vintage 1950s Cadillac, Ford, Packard, Studebaker or DeSoto. Supposedly, used car salesmen would tell prospective buyers that a vehicle's previous owner was "a little old lady from Pasadena who only drove it to church on Sundays," thus suggesting the car had little wear.^[5]

A 1964 Dodge Polara 500 convertible

Personnel

The session musicians who played on this record (who were collectively known as The Wrecking Crew) included Leon Russell on piano; Tommy Tedesco, Bill Pitman and Billy Strange on guitar; Ray Pohlman and Jimmy Bond on bass; and Hal Blaine and Earl Palmer on drums.^[6] Backing vocals were provided by The Honeys.^[7]

Singer/songwriter P. F. Sloan sings the falsetto part usually sung by Dean Torrence, while Dean sings one of the backup parts.^{[citation needed]} This was the first time Sloan sang the falsetto on a single, although he had already sung some falsetto on the last album Dead Man’s Curve/The New Girl In School.

Chart performance

In 1964, the song reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart,^[8] and number one on Canada's RPM chart.^[9]

Revised "Tijuana" lyrics

Jan & Dean reworked the lyrics from "The Little Old Lady (from Pasadena)" in 1967, renaming the track "Tijuana" and releasing it as a single that same year. The lyrics now contained thinly veiled references to marijuana use.^[10] "Tijuana" was to be included on the act's final album Carnival of Sound, completed in 1969, but the LP went unreleased for several decades. The record was circulated as a bootleg until it garnered official release in 2010.^[11]

In popular culture

During the 1960s, the phrase "little old lady from Pasadena" became a popular punchline for many comedians, particularly Johnny Carson, who often invoked it when he took The Tonight Show to Los Angeles before permanently moving it there in 1972.

In "the Gunslinger", the last episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show to be filmed (though it was not the last aired), Rob dreams he is a sheriff in the Old West, where a gun salesman (Allan Melvin) tries to sell him a pistol, telling him "This gun was only fired once -- to kill a little old lady in Pasadena".

The song was one of many California-related songs played throughout "Sunshine Plaza" in the original Disney California Adventure.^[12]

The Dead Kennedys satirized the concept in their own song "Buzzbomb from Pasadena," where an elderly driver likewise terrorizes the city with her driving before getting into a shootout with police at a 7-Eleven

The song is featured in the Animaniacs episode "Little Old Slappy from Pasadena", where Slappy Squirrel drives all over town to deliver a letter. The episode ends with her revealing that she never took driving lessons and being arrested.

The song is featured on the 1993 kids' surf-rock CD, "Camp California: Where The Music Never Ends;" it is performed by Kath Soucie, Nancy Cartwright, Jess Harnell, Hal Rayle and Susan Boyd.