Geronimo's Cadillac (Michael Martin Murphey song)

"Geronimo's Cadillac" is the debut single by American

Murphey was inspired to write "Geronimo's Cadillac" by a photograph showing Geronimo at the wheel of a luxury touring car with a backseat,: this photograph was reproduced as a drawing on the back album cover of Geronimo's Cadillac and also on the picture sleeve of the single. The July–August 1987 issue of American Songwriter quotes Murphey as saying: "the two images together Geronimo and a Cadillac just struck me as a song title. It was every irony I could ever think of about our culture in two words. Their attempt to make of him what we would define as a civilized person. That was the reason they put him in a Cadillac in the first place. He was actually in jail at the time." The photograph was taken at a show for the US press held June 11, 1905 at a ranch located southwest of Ponca City, Oklahoma: Geronimo, then imprisoned at Fort Sill, is actually posed in a Locomobile rather than a Cadillac.^[1]

Chart performance

Released July 31, 1972 as a single which edited the track's original 4:39 length to 3:21, "Geronimo's Cadillac" reached number 37 on the Hot 100 in Billboard magazine.^[2] The track also charted in Canada with a peak of number 30 on the Top Singles chart in RPM magazine. "Geronimo's Cadillac" afforded Murphey his sole Hot 100 charting until "Wildfire" on Epic Records reached number 3 in 1975. The success of "Wildfire" caused A&M to re-issue "Geronimo's Cadillac" with a new B-side: "Blessing in Disguise" a track from Murphey's 1973 album Cosmic Cowboy Souvenir, replacing "Boy from the Country". However this re-issue of "Geronimo's Cadillac" did not chart, failing to deflect interest from Epic's follow-up single release to "Wildfire", "Carolina in the Pines", which fell just short of the top 20.

Charts

Cover versions

A cover version by