Dead Man's Curve (song)

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For other uses, see Dead Man's Curve (disambiguation).

“Dead Man's Curve”

Single by Jan and Dean
Released	1964 (U.S.)
Format	7"
Genre	Pop, Teenage Tragedy
Label	Liberty Records
Writer(s)	Jan Berry, Roger Christian

"Dead Man's Curve" is a 1964 hit song by Jan and Dean detailing a teen drag race gone awry.

According to the song, the race starts at Sunset and Vine, traveling on W. Sunset Blvd. going west. Passing the streets, N. La Brea Ave., N. Crescent Heights Blvd. and N. Doheny Dr. The Schwab's restaurant is on Vine street. Deadman's curve could be after N. Whittier drive or the next curve after Delfem Drive. Deadman's Curve was also the title for the 1978 biographical nationally televised movie, about Jan and Dean, because ironically it was where Jan Berry actually had his tragic accident in 1966.

Three versions of "Dead Man's Curve" were released:

Version #1: Original version from the 1963 Drag City album

Version #2: Single "hit" version with added horns, strings, additional backing vocals and sounds of a car skidding and crashing; from the 1964 Dead Man's Curve/The New Girl In School" LP.

Version #3: An earlier rejected studio mix from the 1966 Filet Of Soul album.

Live versions appear on the 1965 Command Performance and 1971 Anthology albums

There are a few minor lyrical differences between the versions #1 and #2 listed above:

Version #1 - "my frenched taillights," "the strip was deserted" and "pulled her out and there I was"

Version #2 - "my six taillights," "the street was deserted" and "pulled her out and there we were"

The song was covered by The Carpenters as part of their oldies sequence on their album Now and Then. This song has also been covered by the band Blink-182 and by Nash the Slash.