Panama (song)
Encyclopedia
"Panama" is a song from Van Halen
's album 1984
. It was the third single
released from that record and is one of their most recognized songs.
. According to David Lee Roth
this was because critics accused him of writing about nothing more than party
ing, sex
, and cars
, but Roth realized that he had yet to write a song about cars. In an interview with Howard Stern
, Roth explained the meaning behind the trademark song. Although the song features some suggestive lyrics, it is about a car that Roth saw race in Las Vegas
; its name was "Panama Express", hence the title of the song.
Panama was the name of Dave's car. Dave had the hood and bumper mounted in his hallway, which can be seen in Dave's video for SHOOBop. Dave has a stuffed deer's behind crashing through the front windshield. A plaque underneath reads, "Your First deer, courtesy of PANAMA."
David Lee Roth was quoted during a VH1/CMT television show showcasing his, "Strummin' With the Devil" album.
DLR : "You heard me talking about my Kadett Caravan 1969 in Dance the Night Away. The nickname for that blue 1969 Kadett Caravan was, "Panama" 'cause that was the farthest south that you could possibly go and still have a really corrupt good time. That car now, what I did is I had a friend of mine torch off the front engine lid, and at my house in Pasadena, California we have it bolted to the wall in the front hallway. You have the front engine compartment in the grill and the two front halves of wheels like that, and we mounted the windshield right up on the top of it okay? Like it came crashing through the wall of the hallway. And then what we did, is we went to a place called Ellis Mercantile which is where you rent all of the movie props that they make in Hollywood and all of these environments. There's a section that's very famous at Ellis Mercantile where all of the cowboys and Indians stuff is. So there's a whole stack of stuffed deer at Ellis Mercantile. And I bought one, and we sawed it neatly in half and took just the butt, the tail and the back legs and positioned it like it was coming through the windshield of my Opel Cadet station wagon, and hit it and ran through the wall of my house like that. And we painted the hooves blue, "Blue Suede Hooves." And underneath we have a little plaque that says, "My first deer, courtesy of Panama."
During the bridge
of the song where Roth says "I can barely see the road from the heat comin' off of it," guitarist Eddie Van Halen
can be heard revving his Lamborghini
in the background. The car was backed up to the studio and microphones were attached to the exhaust pipe to record the sound for the song.
for the song, directed by Pete Angelus, features mostly on-stage antics by the band. It heavily uses shots of band members flying through the air attached to a cable. During the breakdown, David Lee Roth is seen sword dancing and ribbon dancing
. Bassist Michael Anthony's Jack Daniel's
whiskey bottle bass guitar is also seen.
recorded a swing version of the song in his 1997 album In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy
.
John Mayer
has covered
this song live, with surprising success.
Eddie Van Halen
played an instrumental version on the David Letterman
show.
The Smashing Pumpkins
also released a cover of the song in their Live Smashing Pumpkins
album series.
The band re-recorded the song for the video game, Guitar Hero: Van Halen
.
Christian parody band ApologetiX
did a spoof of the song called "Santa Claus".
The band Bloodhound Gang
sometime covered the bridge of the song during live performances of "Kiss Me Where It Smells Funny
", while doing so, singer Jimmy Pop
would drop his pants and rub his genitals, saying "I feel like fucking Van Halen!", and continue speaking the lyrics.
nian dictator Manuel Noriega
from the Vatican
embassy in Panama City
in 1989, "Panama" was among the Van Halen tracks included in the sound barrage.
"Panama" is featured in the opening title for the American version of the PlayStation 2
game Gran Turismo 4
(along with part of "Moon Over The Castle") and in the film Superbad, when Fogell/McLovin and Officers Slater and Michaels (played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse
, Bill Hader
, and Seth Rogen
respectively) hold a drunken three-man car show in a deserted parking lot.
Van Halen
Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. The band has enjoyed success since the release of its debut album, Van Halen, . As of 2007 Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and has had the most #1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart...
's album 1984
1984 (Van Halen album)
1984 is the sixth studio album by American hard rock band Van Halen. One of the band's more popular albums , 1984 is to date the final album featuring singer David Lee Roth before he left the band in the spring of the following year.-Background and recording:Eddie Van Halen,...
. It was the third single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
released from that record and is one of their most recognized songs.
Background
The song was written about a carČar
Čar is a village in the municipality of Bujanovac, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the town has a population of 296 people.-References:...
. According to David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth is an American rock vocalist, songwriter, actor, author, and former radio personality. Roth was ranked nineteenth by Hit Parader on their list of the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Singers of All Time....
this was because critics accused him of writing about nothing more than party
Party
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, or recreation. A party will typically feature food and beverages, and often music and dancing as well....
ing, sex
Sex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
, and cars
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
, but Roth realized that he had yet to write a song about cars. In an interview with Howard Stern
Howard Stern
Howard Allan Stern is an American radio personality, television host, author, and actor best known for his radio show, which was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2005. He gained wide recognition in the 1990s where he was labeled a "shock jock" for his outspoken and sometimes controversial style...
, Roth explained the meaning behind the trademark song. Although the song features some suggestive lyrics, it is about a car that Roth saw race in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
; its name was "Panama Express", hence the title of the song.
Panama was the name of Dave's car. Dave had the hood and bumper mounted in his hallway, which can be seen in Dave's video for SHOOBop. Dave has a stuffed deer's behind crashing through the front windshield. A plaque underneath reads, "Your First deer, courtesy of PANAMA."
David Lee Roth was quoted during a VH1/CMT television show showcasing his, "Strummin' With the Devil" album.
DLR : "You heard me talking about my Kadett Caravan 1969 in Dance the Night Away. The nickname for that blue 1969 Kadett Caravan was, "Panama" 'cause that was the farthest south that you could possibly go and still have a really corrupt good time. That car now, what I did is I had a friend of mine torch off the front engine lid, and at my house in Pasadena, California we have it bolted to the wall in the front hallway. You have the front engine compartment in the grill and the two front halves of wheels like that, and we mounted the windshield right up on the top of it okay? Like it came crashing through the wall of the hallway. And then what we did, is we went to a place called Ellis Mercantile which is where you rent all of the movie props that they make in Hollywood and all of these environments. There's a section that's very famous at Ellis Mercantile where all of the cowboys and Indians stuff is. So there's a whole stack of stuffed deer at Ellis Mercantile. And I bought one, and we sawed it neatly in half and took just the butt, the tail and the back legs and positioned it like it was coming through the windshield of my Opel Cadet station wagon, and hit it and ran through the wall of my house like that. And we painted the hooves blue, "Blue Suede Hooves." And underneath we have a little plaque that says, "My first deer, courtesy of Panama."
During the bridge
Bridge (music)
In music, especially western popular music, a bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section...
of the song where Roth says "I can barely see the road from the heat comin' off of it," guitarist Eddie Van Halen
Eddie Van Halen
Edward Lodewijk "Eddie" Van Halen is a Dutch-American guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
can be heard revving his Lamborghini
Lamborghini
Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A., commonly referred to as Lamborghini , is an Italian car manufacturer. The company was founded by manufacturing magnate Ferruccio Lamborghini in 1963, with the objective of producing a refined grand touring car to compete with established offerings from marques like...
in the background. The car was backed up to the studio and microphones were attached to the exhaust pipe to record the sound for the song.
Music video
The music videoMusic video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
for the song, directed by Pete Angelus, features mostly on-stage antics by the band. It heavily uses shots of band members flying through the air attached to a cable. During the breakdown, David Lee Roth is seen sword dancing and ribbon dancing
Ribbon (rhythmic gymnastics)
Ribbon is a component of rhythmic gymnastics.-The stick:This can be of any colour and made of wood, bamboo, plastic or fibreglass with a maximum diameter of 1cm at its widest, a cylindrical or conical shape and should have a length of 50–60cm...
. Bassist Michael Anthony's Jack Daniel's
Jack Daniel's
Jack Daniel's is a brand of sour mash Tennessee whiskey that is among the world's best-selling liquors. It is known for its square bottles and black label. As of November, 2007, one blogger was claiming that it was the best-selling whiskey in the world. It is produced in Lynchburg, Tennessee by...
whiskey bottle bass guitar is also seen.
Personnel
- David Lee RothDavid Lee RothDavid Lee Roth is an American rock vocalist, songwriter, actor, author, and former radio personality. Roth was ranked nineteenth by Hit Parader on their list of the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Singers of All Time....
: lead vocals - Michael AnthonyMichael AnthonyMichael Anthony Sobolewski , known professionally as Michael Anthony, is an American musician who is currently the bass player in the rock supergroup Chickenfoot...
: bass guitar, backing vocals - Eddie Van HalenEddie Van HalenEdward Lodewijk "Eddie" Van Halen is a Dutch-American guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
: guitar, backing vocals - Alex Van HalenAlex Van HalenAlexander Arthur "Alex" Van Halen is a Dutch-born American musician, best known as the drummer and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen. Originally, his brother Eddie had taken lessons for drums, while Alex practiced guitar...
: drums
Cover versions
Pat BoonePat Boone
Charles Eugene "Pat" Boone is an American singer, actor and writer who has been a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He covered black artists' songs and sold more copies than his black counterparts...
recorded a swing version of the song in his 1997 album In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy
In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy
In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy is a 1997 album by Pat Boone in which Boone, after critisizing groups like Duran Duran for their James Bond theme and number one hit A View To A Kill because of their lyric "Dance Into the Fire" being devil worshipping and unholy, covers hard rock and heavy...
.
John Mayer
John Mayer
John Clayton Mayer is an American pop rock and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he refined his...
has covered
Covered
Covered is a term used in popular music in general to refer to a song recorded by different performer from its original or most popular recorded version, and by some disc jockeys in particular to describe a musical recording presented under the guise of a false title and artist name...
this song live, with surprising success.
Eddie Van Halen
Eddie Van Halen
Edward Lodewijk "Eddie" Van Halen is a Dutch-American guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
played an instrumental version on the David Letterman
David Letterman
David Michael Letterman is an American television host and comedian. He hosts the late night television talk show, Late Show with David Letterman, broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC...
show.
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1988. Formed by Billy Corgan frontman and James Iha , the band has included Jimmy Chamberlin , D'arcy Wretzky , and currently includes Jeff Schroeder Mike Byrne , and Nicole Fiorentino The Smashing...
also released a cover of the song in their Live Smashing Pumpkins
Live Smashing Pumpkins
Live Smashing Pumpkins is a joint venture between the American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins and the music distributor Nugs.net Enterprises to sell audio recordings "mastered directly from the soundboard" of The Smashing Pumpkins concerts from the band's 2008 20th anniversary tour of...
album series.
The band re-recorded the song for the video game, Guitar Hero: Van Halen
Guitar Hero: Van Halen
Guitar Hero: Van Halen is the third and final band-specific rhythm video game in the Guitar Hero series. As with the previous games Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and Guitar Hero: Metallica, the game features 25 songs from Van Halen along with 19 additional songs from selected artists that have been...
.
Christian parody band ApologetiX
ApologetiX
ApologetiX is a Christian parody band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. The band was founded in 1992, and since then, has played in 44 states, released 17 studio albums, and built up a fan club that includes 45,000 people. The band is currently composed of J...
did a spoof of the song called "Santa Claus".
The band Bloodhound Gang
Bloodhound Gang
Bloodhound Gang is a Collegeville, Pennsylvania-based American comedy band, although it began as a rap group and gradually changed its genre throughout the years...
sometime covered the bridge of the song during live performances of "Kiss Me Where It Smells Funny
Kiss Me Where It Smells Funny
"Kiss Me Where It Smells Funny" is the first track and third single from the Bloodhound Gang album One Fierce Beer Coaster.The song is portraying the story of a man and his new girlfriend and their adventures in cunnilingus....
", while doing so, singer Jimmy Pop
Jimmy Pop
Jimmy Pop is an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, main songwriter, and founding member of the band Bloodhound Gang.-Biography:After graduating from Perkiomen Valley High School in 1990, he studied mass communication and history at Temple...
would drop his pants and rub his genitals, saying "I feel like fucking Van Halen!", and continue speaking the lyrics.
In popular culture
When U.S. troops used high volume heavy metal music during Operation Just Cause to flush PanamaPanama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
nian dictator Manuel Noriega
Manuel Noriega
Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno is a Panamanian politician and soldier. He was military dictator of Panama from 1983 to 1989.The 1989 invasion of Panama by the United States removed him from power; he was captured, detained as a prisoner of war, and flown to the United States. Noriega was tried on...
from the Vatican
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
embassy in Panama City
Panama City
Panama is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Panama. It has a population of 880,691, with a total metro population of 1,272,672, and it is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, in the province of the same name. The city is the political and administrative center of the...
in 1989, "Panama" was among the Van Halen tracks included in the sound barrage.
"Panama" is featured in the opening title for the American version of the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
game Gran Turismo 4
Gran Turismo 4
is a racing simulator for the Sony PlayStation 2 which was developed by Polyphony Digital. It was released on December 28, 2004 in Japan and Hong Kong , February 22, 2005 in North America , and March 9, 2005 in Europe , and has since been re-issued under Sony's 'Greatest Hits' line...
(along with part of "Moon Over The Castle") and in the film Superbad, when Fogell/McLovin and Officers Slater and Michaels (played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Christopher Charles Mintz-Plasse is an American actor known for starring in films such as Superbad, Role Models, Year One, and Kick-Ass.-Early life:...
, Bill Hader
Bill Hader
William "Bill" Hader is an American actor, comedian, producer and writer. He is best known for his work as a creative consultant on the hit show South Park and as a cast member on Saturday Night Live and for his supporting roles in comedy films such as Superbad, Hot Rod, Tropic Thunder,...
, and Seth Rogen
Seth Rogen
Seth Rogen is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, producer, screenwriter, and voice artist. Rogen began his career doing stand-up comedy during his teen years, winning the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest in 1998. While still living in his native Vancouver, he landed a small part in Freaks and...
respectively) hold a drunken three-man car show in a deserted parking lot.
Chart positions
| Chart (1984) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Irish Singles Chart Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
30 |
| UK Singles Charts | 64 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
13 |
External links
- Music video on MTVMTVMTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
.com (Windows Media)