Cadillac Ranch

Album: The River (1980)
Play Video
  • Well, there she sits buddy just a gleaming in the sun
    There to greet a working man when his day is done
    I'm gonna pack my pa and I'm gonna pack my aunt
    I'm gonna take them down to the Cadillac ranch

    Eldorado fins, baby, whitewalls in skirts
    Rides just like my little bit of heaven here on earth
    Well, buddy, when I die throw my body in the back
    Drive me to the junkyard in my Cadillac

    Cadillac, Cadillac
    Long and dark shiny and black
    Open up your engines, let 'em roar
    Tearing up the highway like a big old dinosaur

    James Dean in that mercury '49
    Junior Johnson runnin' through the woods of Caroline
    Even Burt Reynolds in that black Trans Am
    All gonna meet down at the Cadillac ranch

    Cadillac, Cadillac
    Long and dark, shiny and black
    Open up them engines let 'em roar
    Tearing up the highway like a big old dinosaur

    Hey little girlie, in the blue jeans so tight
    Drivin' alone through the Wisconsin night
    You're my last love, baby, you're my last chance
    Don't let 'em take me to the Cadillac ranch

    Cadillac, Cadillac
    Long and dark, shiny and black
    Pulled up to my house today
    Came and took my little girl away

    Oh baby, come home
    Oh baby, come back
    Oh yeah
    Come home Writer/s: Bruce Springsteen
    Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 10

  • Sf from NyHeard for the 3,000th time today. Still love it....Crazy question...Any chance Bruce saying his wife/GF died? it just hit me for the first time. He has said that he likes the upbeat songs to deliver sad stories, a la "Hungry Heart" and "Girls in Summer Clothes", among others. "Black caddy (hearse?) came and took my little girl away.."
    Just a thought
  • Jim from Long Beach, CaGreat song and always a show-stopper at his shows when played..
  • Gregory from Buena Vista, CoBruce wrote an especially good 'car song' at a time when they had been omitted from Pop/Rock Music for several years...the verse "...Junior Johnson bombin' through the woods of Caroline..." refers to Junior running moonshine in his souped up Ford, the precursor to NASCAR racing. James Dean and Burt Reynolds get mentioned as additional 'Gearhead' idols. Dean, of course, died in his Porsche sports car, while Burt made a ton of money, along with Pontiac, from his black Firebird TransAm in the 'Smokey & the Bandit' movies.
  • Pat from Albuquerque, NmI drove by the real Cadillac Ranch two weeks ago and stopped to take a couple pictures. It's still just off I-40 west of Amarillo TX near a Love's truck stop. The cars are covered with paint, and two high school girls were adding even more paint to the west most car while I was there.
  • M.j. from Calgary, Abnot to take away from bruce springsteen as a singer but the nitty gritty dirt band version is 10 times better then his.
  • Pat from Albuquerque, NmBrian--I think Bruce has said that, with the exception of songs about Patti Scialfa and Julianne Phillips, all the girls/women in his songs are fictional and aren't based on anyone.
  • Darrell from EugeneChris Le Doux recorded a country song called "Cadillac Ranch" in the late 1980s, but it was about opening a bar on an old cattle ranch instead of death and dying. It has nothing in common other than the gender of the singer and the title.
  • Sheldon from Toronto, CanadaRead a bit deeper into the lyrics..The cadillac ranch is a burial to "dead" cadillacs. The song is a simple statement of death and how we are all going to meet at the cadillac ranch ....
  • Brian from Meriden, CtVery cool. I wonder if the "little girlie in the blue jeans so tight, driving alone through the Wisconsin night" was anyone in particular.
  • Kyle from Belleville, CanadaLove this song. I want to hear it live one day. I think i'd go crazy lol
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Joe Elliott of Def Leppard

Joe Elliott of Def LeppardSongwriter Interviews

The Def Leppard frontman talks about their "lamentable" hit he never thought of as a single, and why he's juiced by his Mott The Hoople cover band.

Dave Alvin - "4th Of July"

Dave Alvin - "4th Of July"They're Playing My Song

When Dave recorded the first version of the song with his group the Blasters, producer Nick Lowe gave him some life-changing advice.

90s Metal

90s MetalFact or Fiction

Test your metal - Priest, Maiden, and Beavis and Butt-head show up in this one.

Sam Phillips

Sam PhillipsSongwriter Interviews

Collaborating with T Bone Burnett, Leslie Phillips changed her name and left her Christian label behind - Robert Plant, who recorded one of her songs on Raising Sand, is a fan.

Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde

Johnette Napolitano of Concrete BlondeSongwriter Interviews

The singer/bassist for Concrete Blonde talks about how her songs come from clairvoyance, and takes us through the making of their hit "Joey."

Wherefore Art Thou Romeo Lyric

Wherefore Art Thou Romeo LyricMusic Quiz

In this quiz, spot the artist who put Romeo into a song lyric.