#122 & 123 – Drive My Car by The Beatles
This song recalls two different memories separated by more than two decades. Both carry equal weight in my weighted-down memory bank, with each deserving space in this Classic Rocker rambling of words. We’ll title the first, “Sunday School Music” and the second, “Three Dave’s Die In Fiery Car Accident.” However, don’t read too much into each title. Both are misleading and have happy endings, rather than the fire and brimstone you might expect.
In both cases, don’t let the titles fool you.
Drive My Car was an excellent soul-influenced rocker to kick off a Beatles album. What album depended on what side of the Atlantic you were located. For me it was in June 1966 and the LP Yesterday and Today. For their home-grown fans in England, they were gifted this gem on the pre-Christmas 1965 release of Rubber Soul. As classic rockers know, Beatles albums in various countries had different song configurations until Sgt. Pepper in 1967.
I won’t get into any reasons for this sometimes-confusing mix and match. But it’s why first-generation Beatles fans can still talk about the same songs, but from different albums.
Before we dwell on the past, Drive My Car joined the Dream Song list twice on January 29 and September 13. And since Beatles LPs in all configurations are never far from my daily playlists, it goes down in the recently heard category.
Sunday School Music
In 1965-66 I was aware of the album track differences and knew my pre-Christmas copy of Rubber Soul had less songs than the UK version. When I learned of the missing titles, Drive My Car had me confused since only The Beach Boys and Jan & Dean sang about cars.
Then I learned Yesterday and Today would kick-off another summer of Beatlemania with announcements they would tour North American again in August. The excitement was building.
Our local Top 40 AM station was broadcasting teasers about premiering this song from the upcoming album, so it was important to stay within listening distance of a radio. The deejays told us it was coming but not when.

For me it finally occurred on a Sunday morning. My mother had dragged me out of bed to go to Sunday school at our church. After what seemed an eternity, which is what we all were being primed for on Sunday mornings, I couldn’t leave fast enough to turn on the car radio. I was way too young to drive but must have convinced my mother to give me the keys because I was in the driver’s seat watching the more pious members of our congregation heading in for the church service when a deejay finally gave it a spin.
And yeah, that’s exactly how it happened. It also sounded as great then as it does now.
Three Dave’s Die in Fiery Car Accident
Okay, obviously the second story also involves a car. It’s in the title. There were also three Dave’s, with me being one of them. But there was no fire, and nobody died. It’s just what one of the other Dave’s screamed out during a hectic drive with me behind the wheel.
Oh, and I should mention, the louder Dave went on to be very famous.
I’ve mentioned in past Classic Rocker’s I’ve worked in the comedy industry. My official title in Los Angles was Talent Coordinator and I was based at The Hollywood Improv comedy. At that time, there was also club in Santa Monica, where we filmed the television show A&E’s An Evening at the Improv. I scheduled comedians to perform at both venues and the TV show, while also looking for “new faces,” which were unknown comedians that could possibly go on to become famous.
This story involves one that did.
It was late 1992 when I received a call from a friend in New York City who managed comedians and scheduled shows for a club in The Village. He told me about a young comedian he was working with and wanted my help getting him on stage in Hollywood to be seen by important television and film producers.
I trusted his kid would be funny, but also knew how to “play the game” within the entertainment industry. I said I would do it if he scheduled two of my NYC comedy friends for an MTV audition happening at his club. He agreed and it was a done deal.
I’ve always compared it to making a trade in baseball. I’ll trade you two of my players for one of yours. I’ll reveal the name of his player in a moment.
We scheduled his comedian for a five-to-seven-minute showcase on a Thursday evening at The Hollywood Improv. This was always an important night for new comedians since the “already-famous” acts would fill the stages on Fridays and Saturdays. Industry people would be looking for “new faces” on the weeknights, with the most popular being Thursdays.
I was at a table in the back of the showroom waiting for this unknown comic to find me. I felt there was more pressure on me than usual since there were a lot of behind-the-scenes bigwigs in the audience. One of my jobs was to make sure our “new faces” were funnier than at other clubs and worth seeing. To keep the odds in our favor, I would normally watch a video of a new comedian before deciding to add him or her to an important show. But in this case, I had trusted my NYC pal. I had no idea if this kid was going to be a hit – or a bomb.
The trade had been made.
I noticed a tall, skinny young guy making his way toward me. He must have asked a server where I was because he walked up to my table and asked if I was Dave. I said yeah and asked who he was.
He introduced himself as Dave Chappelle.
I looked up at him and said, “You better be funny.”
“Okay,” he answered.
I’ll cut this rambling short and just say he went on stage and tore down the house. I was laughing so hard there were tears running down my face. When he walked off stage, I was already running up to him, grabbed his hand and said, “You’re doing the TV show An Evening at the Improv.”
He said, “Okay.”
Now, whether there’s truth in this or not, I’m still claiming to be the first to schedule Dave Chappelle for a television appearance. Intense research may prove differently, but it doesn’t matter. I’ve taken full bragging rights for this one and will not easily give it up.
Of course, Dave generated a lot of attention from the industry that night and was on his way to a hugely successful career. So, for that reason, he was staying in Los Angeles rather than heading back to New York. And of course, we took advantage of his new west coast status by scheduling him to appear at our two local Improv clubs.
One evening I was again seated at one of the back tables in the Hollywood Improv watching for new faces when Dave walked up and said hello. I asked what he was doing there.
“You gave me a spot,” he answered.
“Yeah,” I said, “but not here. You’re supposed to be in Santa Monica.”
Oh man,” he said, or something close to that, “I’m from New York. I don’t have a car.”
I’m sure I answered with a word that would fit right into a Dave Chappelle comedy routine and knew I had to come up with a solution. It wouldn’t look good for a still up-and-coming comedian to miss a scheduled performance AND wouldn’t look good for me – as the talent coordinator – to be with him when he did a no-show.
Thinking fast, I told him to get in my car, and I’d drive him to Santa Monica. We didn’t have much time, but if traffic was light and I ignored any type of speed limits or traffic laws, we could possibly make it.
As we ran for the door, he grabbed a comedian pal – also named Dave – to ride with us.
I don’t remember what route I took, but it was a race against time. Dave Chappelle was in the passenger seat and his pal Dave was crammed into the back. The jokes and one-liners about my driving were also flying fast and furious as I kept the pedal to the metal and avoided contact with the other cars I was passing.
At one particular moment, probably after another close call, Dave Chappelle put his hands on the dashboard and yelled, “I can see the headlines now! Three Dave’s Die in Fiery Car Accident!”
“Shut up!” I yelled back. Actually, it was more laughing than in fear. I may have even punched him in the shoulder, but that could just be an exaggeration I’ve come up with over time. It wouldn’t have been too smart of me to take my hand off the wheel traveling full speed ahead.
We pulled up in front of the Santa Monica Improv with barely a minute or two before he was due on stage. I slammed on the brakes and yelled at both Dave’s to, “Get out!” They did, ran inside and I went back to the relative safety of my table in Hollywood.
To close out this chapter of Drive My Car…
Several years later, Dave was one of the biggest comedy stars on television with The Chappelle Show. He was on tour, and I learned he was performing at my later comedy home base, The Improv in Cleveland, Ohio. I headed out early hoping I could find him and once I arrived, well… it was easy.
In the parking lot was a large touring bus with his face the size of a billboard covering the side. I walked over, knocked on the door and waited for someone – probably a security guy – to answer. Instead, the window curtains opened, and Dave Chappelle looked out at me.
“Hey!” he called out. “Three Dave’s die in fiery car accident!”
We had the chance to hang out for a bit and have a few laughs before the show. I really don’t remember what we What we talked about, but I will tell you one thing we didn’t do. We didn’t listen to The Beatles.
Thanks for reading and as always – keep rockin’!
To hear Drive My Car by The Beatles with some cool in studio photos visit YouTube.
Dave Schwensen is The Classic Rocker and author of the books The Beatles At Shea Stadium and The Beatles In Cleveland. For more information visit his author page on Amazon.com