Beau & The Burners shared this video on their Facebook feed and it’s always been one of my favorite songs, so I just had to pass it on. And the images in this video are wonderful. What a crazy few years the mid to late 1950s was for the Cadillac!
The song “Pink Cadillac” was recorded by Sammy Masters (aka, Johnny Todd) and released in 1956 on the 4 Star label. As with so many rockabilly songs that have become true classics, the song didn’t make much of an impression on the charts.
In fact, Master never made much noise on the charts with his biggest hit reaching only #64. But he did find some success as a song writer. He wrote the song “Turn the Cards Slowly” which was a minor hit for Patsy Cline (and happens to be one of my favorite Patsy Cline tunes where she explores her rockabilly side a bit). He also wrote the song “Who Can I Count On?” which was released as the B-side of Patsy Cline’s smash hit recording of Willie Nelson’s song “Crazy”. “Who Can I Count On” was then recorded by several other majore artists.
In later years Masters worked with Deke Dickerson and Ray Campi and he played the European rockabilly circuit.
Masters is another wonderful example of a talented and ambitious young rockabilly musician who created great music, but just never managed to break through. But Pink Cadillac is a fantastic song and Masters can be proud of this contribution to the rich history of rockabilly music.
