Panama (song)
| "Panama" | |||||||||||||||
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| Single by Van Halen | |||||||||||||||
| from the album 1984 | |||||||||||||||
| B-side | "Drop Dead Legs" (US)/"Girl Gone Bad" (UK) | ||||||||||||||
| Released | June 18, 1984 | ||||||||||||||
| Format | 7" | ||||||||||||||
| Recorded | 5150 Studios, Hollywood, California; 1983 | ||||||||||||||
| Genre | Heavy metal,glam metal | ||||||||||||||
| Length | 3:31 | ||||||||||||||
| Label | Warner Music Group | ||||||||||||||
| Writer(s) | Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony, David Lee Roth | ||||||||||||||
| Producer(s) | Ted Templeman | ||||||||||||||
| Van Halen singles chronology | |||||||||||||||
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"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.
The song was reportedly written about a car. In an interview with Howard Stern, lead singer David Lee 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. In the Stern interview, Roth did not explain why the song was about a car rather than the usual Van Halen material.
Panama was the name of Roth's car. He had the hood and bumper mounted in his hallway, which can be seen in his video for "SHOOBop". He has a stuffed deer's behind crashing through the front windshield. A plaque underneath reads, "Your 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 it," guitarist Eddie Van Halen can be heard revving his 1972 Lamborghini Miura S 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.
The music video for the song, directed by Pete Angelus, features mostly on-stage antics by the band. The video was shot at The Spectrum in Philadelphia during soundcheck and the live show. It uses numerous shots of band members flying through the air attached to a cable. During the breakdown, Roth is seen sword dancing and ribbon dancing. Bassist Michael Anthony's Jack Daniel's whiskey bottle bass guitar is also seen.
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Wikipedia