Ballad Of Ole Betsy by The Beach Boys

Many early Beach Boys songs are about girls and surfing, but they often touched on car culture as well. In this song, "Ole Betsy" is a 1932 automobile (presumably a Ford) that has seen better days. Like many aging Hot Rods that lost all practical value a long time ago, Betsy has great sentimental value to her owner. The lyrics conjure up an image of a beat-up, rusty two-door sedan with fancy mag wheels and white-letter tires that has been very well loved.
The lyrics were written by Roger Christian, whom Mike Love explained to Mojo magazine June 2012, "was a gearhead who did all the words for our car songs." Christian also wrote words for "Dead Man's Curve" by Jan & Dean and the most famous car song by The Beach Boys: "Little Deuce Coupe."
Mike Love's favorite Roger Christian lyric is in this song. He told Mojo: "It's like a metaphor in a sense. When you come to that part where he's saying, 'She may be rusted iron, but to me she's solid gold. I just can't hold the tears back, 'cos Betty's growing old…' it just gets me. It's so descriptive and so beautiful."

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Steve Dotstar from Los Angeles, CaOne of my favorite Beach Boys songs, cause of the harmony at the end. I told Brian this in October of 1968... he laughed.
Another reason I like it, is that Chuck Britz punches in on the tape after the word "back"
so the boys can perfect the harmony there. You can hear the click... fascinating.

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