Psychobilly, que'ce-que c'est?

If you too think 'Psychobilly' is pretty imaginative as music-genre names go, wait till you hear the names of some of the most representative Psychobilly bands. Here's a list of my favourites:

The Chop Tops

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Calamitiez

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Elvis Hitler (a mutant made in hell, no doubt)

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The Vaudevillains

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Zombina and the Skeletones

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The godfather of the genre seems to be songwriter Wayne Kemp, who wrote for Johnny Cash 'One Piece at a Time', a country song in fact, which became a hit in the US top-ten charts in 1976. The song tells of a Detroit factory worker whose job was to fit wheels on Cadillacs, and who hatched a cunning plan to smuggle a Cadillac out of the factory piece by piece (hence the title) in his lunchbox, never mind if it took him years. His home-made beauty, however, looks rather idiosyncratic - it's a 'Psychobilly Cadillac' (lyrics from elyrics.net):

'I got it one piece at a time
And it didn't cost me a dime
You'll know it's me when I come through your town
I'm gonna ride around in style
I'm gonna drive everybody wild
'Cause I'll have the only one there is around.

[Spoken] Ugh! Yow, RED RYDER
This is the COTTON MOUTH
In the PSYCHOBILLY CADILLAC, Come on.

Huh, This is the COTTON MOUTH
And negatory on the cost of this mow-chine there RED RYDER
You might say I went right up to the factory
And picked it up, it's cheaper that way
Ugh!, what model is it?'