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In my native New Orleans, for example, blacks were expressly forbidden from entering a Cadillac dealership to do business.įrom the perspective of many southern white Cadillac dealers at the time, it was a legitimate, logical practice of discrimination. Truth is, even when they had the money, blacks typically could not walk into a Cadillac dealership of the 1950s and just order up a car. In the racial context of 1950s America, there are also the matters of aspiration and pride - of overcoming the white majority's view of black value. There is substantially more than greed and lust at work in these lyrics. Hey, hey, hey, hey, driving that Cadillac.
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No woman could resist a man who had the wherewithal to own and drive a Cadillac, Charles theorized in his songs, as evidenced by the opening lyrics of his 1953 classic, "It Should've Been Me": To get his woman, he needed that car - the symbol of wealth, the high-powered version of manhood.
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Whether he was falling into or out of love, the late Ray Charles had a penchant for falling into Detroit's cars when he sang the blues.Ĭharles favored Cadillac, the standard of motorized excellence in the 1950s when he began establishing his reputation as one of the world's greatest performers of blues and country and western music.
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