One piece at a time by Johnny Cash - some explanation

[jaffarski]

Hi everyone,

recently I was putting together a playlist of some good tunes which have the word "Cadillac" in the title or it appears frequently within the lyrics. There I discovered this song from Johnny Cash most of you, I believe, are already familiar with. I think it's utterly hilarious, therefore I want to share it with other fellows from our scene here in Slovakia. Some of them have a rather poor command of English language, that's why I'm making subtitles for this. It went well until the last paragraph:

So we drove up town just to get the tags
And I headed her right on down main drag
I could hear everybody laughin' for blocks around
But up there at the court house they didn't laugh
'Cause to type it up it took the whole staff
And when they got through the title weighed sixty pounds.

1. Get the tags - does it imply number plates?
2. Main drag - something like a high street?
3. Court house - the office which releases the number plates?
4. Type it up - what is meant by this process precisely?
5. The title weighed sixty pounds - what is actually this title?

I am not familiar with this process in the US, please help.

Thanks. Can't wait for the season to play this tune in our '51.

Peter

[76eldo]

Peter,

Your English is very good.
Type it up means to prepare the title (ownership papers) for the car. Back then we used old fashioned typewriters for this.

Title weighing 60 pounds is a joke referring to all of the years that must have been typed in since the car consisted of parts from many years.

Brian

[TJ Hopland]

You pretty much have it correct. 

Main drag would be the primary most busy street through a town.  This would be where most of the businesses were including the government office where you would get your 'tags'.  This street in the USA would often be called Main street.

Type it up meant the office clerk would actually be using a typewriter to fill out the information on the title.   

The title is the physical piece of paper (usually a fancy embossed watermarked official document)  that identifies the car that includes VIN number and the year, make, and model which in this case took several pages to get all the information in.  Apparently it was so many pages that it literally weighted 60 pounds.

[savemy67]

Dobry den Peter,

1. tags in America are number plates in Europe
2. Main Drag in America is High Street in Europe
3. Court House in English is literally sud in Slovak.  In America, a court house can also be where the office that provides motor vehicle licensing is located.  In Slovak, radnica is probably a better translation
4. Type it up in America means to enter information on a form.  When the song was composed, entering information on a form was done with a typewriter.  Byrokracia is the same everywhere!
5. title in English (when referring to a motor vehicle) is vlastníctva vozidla papier in Slovak, the piece of paper that indicates you are the legal owner of a car.

Dovidenia,
Christopher Winter

[jaffarski]

Thank you guys, I was able now to put it together somehow.

Last bit is even more tricky though. Any suggestions regarding the highlighted parts? I struggle to make anything out of it.

Ugh! Yow, RED RYDER
This is the COTTON MOUTH
In the PSYCHO-BILLY 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?

[mgbeda]

Now you're talking 70's CB slang.  A CB is short for Citizen's band radio, basically a fancy two-way radio.  Truckers have used them for many decades, but for a few years in the 70's they got very popular, then were forgotten, by people in general.  In fact a rare option on late 70's Cadillacs is a factory installed CB radio.

Red Ryder- just a nick-name for somebody you're talking to on the CB.  Red Ryder was a popular brand of children's toy gun, but that probably doesn't matter here.  Maybe an inside joke for Johnny Cash.

Cotton Mouth - another nickname.  Cotton Mouth is also slang for the dry feeling in your mouth after too much drinking.

Psycho-billy - is a made up word coming from Psychotic and Hillbilly, meaning a crazy country bumpkin.

Negatory just means "no", or in this case there was no cost, he paid nothing for it.

-mB

[jaffarski]

Thank you Mike, your insights helped. I think I fully understand now. It all clicked after your explanation.

Still a tough one to translate, but now I am fully able to finish the task. Thanks again to everyone who took participation in this thread!

Dovidenia,

Peter

[Quentin Hall]

I'm sure the "man in black" is standing beside "the man in white" upstairs and they are both lookin'down on this having the biggest laugh.
Ps and please nobody reply San Quentin, i hate every inch of you.

[Caddyjack]

And a great promotional photo used on the record sleeve in 1976.....

[Coupe Deville]

That's one good looking 49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59 automobile........