One of the most hard-driving rock songs of the 1980s about fast cars and fast women is Van Halen's 1984 hit "Panama."
The song has a bit of a tale that made it stand out when we compiled our summer driving playlist, so here's that story: Lore has it that an interviewer accused Van Halen's then-lead singer David Lee Roth of only writing songs about sex, drugs and fast cars. Roth realized he actually had never penned a song about fast cars, the story goes, so he got to work on "Panama."
"Ain't nothin' like it, her shiny machine/got the feel for the wheel, keep the moving parts clean ..." the lyrics go.
Some versions of the tale hold that the song's name came from a stripper Roth knew. But it was also the name of a real car, David Bertinelli told the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network. Bertinelli was brother-in-law to the late Eddie Van Halen when the song was written.
"Ed had written the music and David Lee Roth came up with the lyrics," Bertinelli said. "Dave had a friend who had a race car and it was nicknamed Panama."
