The “Golden Hits Of The 70s” 

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SAMMY JOHNS

“CHEVY VAN”

(SAMMY JOHNS)

GRC 2046

No. 5   May 3, 1975

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Little Sammy was big on Elvis, and at the impression­ able age of 10, he got a hold of his first guitar and

start­ed shakin’ and strummin’.  Later, someone noted the teenager’s twitches and music-like sounds, and

placed him in a group of fellow Charlotte, North Carolina, youths that wanted to make rock’n’roll.  The

Devilles, as they were known, cut several singles for the Dixie label and had something of a local hit with

their tune “Makin’ Tracks.”  Sam aged 10 years with the Devilles before he opted for a change and

embarked on a folk­ like solo career.

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A bigwig from the newly forged General Recording Corporation happened to catch a Sammy Johns perfor­

mance, signed him to the label, and installed him in Atlanta’s Sound Pit Studio with session pros like Jim

Gordon, Buddy Emmons, Jim Hom, and James Burton.  Larry Knechtel, one-time member of Duane

Eddy’s Rebels and the keyboardist for Bread at the time, pro­duced this 1973 session.  Released were two

singles that went nowhere fast; the third, “Early Morning Love” (#68, 1974), was a teasing male fantasy

with a folkie feel and countrified pedal-steel guitar underpinnings.

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The follow-up to “Early Morning Love,” “Chevy Van,” gave vent to a more galvanic male fantasy.  “Chevy

Vanl” tells of a sweet young thing, who shyly asks you to please make love to her.  You obediently oblige

her request and take her in your big, fully-rigged machine to a tiny town far away from it all, whereupon

the vir­ginal goddess walks off in bare feet.  Now here was a tune that Sammy dearly could not top!

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The next single,”Rag Doll” (#52, 1975), was a chaste and sad ode.  Sammy, it seemed, had spent his

creative juices.  In 1977, he switched to Warner Bros., and made some recordings for Real World Records.

But never again would his name or his fantasies grace the Billboard charts.

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Hollywood was not unmoved by Sammy Johns’ “Chevy Van” premise: within months of the recording’s

penetration of the Top 10, an inane movie called The Van (1976), featuring Danny DeVito and some

nymphets, was quickly tossed together.  Sammy was asked to concoct a soundtrack album that would

flesh out the concept, but both the film and the album were a bust.