Dead Man's Curve (song)

For other uses, see Dead Man's Curve (disambiguation).
"Dead Man's Curve"
Single by Jan and Dean
from the album Drag City
B-side"The New Girl In School"
ReleasedDecember 4, 1963
RecordedNovember 27, 1963
Genre
Length2:57
LabelLiberty
Songwriter(s)Jan Berry, Roger Christian, Brian Wilson, Artie Kornfeld
Producer(s)Jan Berry for Screen Gems, Inc.
Jan and Dean singles chronology
"Drag City"
(1963) 		"Dead Man's Curve"
(1963) 		"The Little Old Lady from Pasadena"
(1964)

"Dead Man's Curve" is a 1964 hit song by Jan and Dean whose lyrics detail a teen street race gone awry. It reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and number 39 in Canada.[3] The song was written and composed by Brian Wilson, Artie Kornfeld, Roger Christian, and Jan Berry at Wilson's mother's house in Santa Monica. It was part of the teenage tragedy song phenomenon of that period, and one of the most popular such selections of all time. "Dead Man's Curve" was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008.[4]

  1. ^ Hoffmann, Frank W.; Bailey, William G. (1990). Arts & Entertainment Fads, Volume 1. Binghamton: Haworth Press. pp. 61–62. ISBN 9780866568814.
  2. ^ Breihan, Tom (May 25, 2018). "The Number Ones: Jan And Dean's "Surf City"". Stereogum. Retrieved June 10, 2023. ...but they kept recording increasingly complex surf-pop jams, often with Wilson, for the next few years (1964's "Dead Man's Curve" is a banger).
  3. ^ "CHUM Hit Parade - May 18, 1968".
  4. ^ "GRAMMY HALL OF FAME". Grammy Awards.