Used Car Salesman

The first performance of Used Car Salesman was given on April 18, 2000 by the Ethos Percussion Ensemble at Hancher Auditorium, Iowa City, Iowa. It was commissioned by Hancher Auditorium, the University of Iowa. Funding was provided by the Hancher Auditorium Millennium Fund through the University of Iowa Foundation and the National Endowment of the Arts. It is scored as follows: Percussion I (vibraphone, tambourine), Percussion II (marimba, maraca), Percussion III (Eight metals, two gongs, tambourine, claves, vibraslap, two car horns, tambourine), Percussion IV (Bass drum, four tom-tom or paddle drums, bongos, piccolo snare, four woodblocks, three cowbells, four cymbals, claves, maraca). Duration is ten minutes.


Used Car Salesman is a tribute to my father Willis Daugherty (born 1927) who is a dance band drummer and was a used car salesman in Cedar Rapids, Iowa from 1955–60. In my composition, I create a musical landscape where I reflect upon the world of the 1950s used car salesman. In addition to the percussion quartet performing on a wide variety of metal instruments from the scrap heap, I punctuate the rhythmically complex counterpoint with spoken text:


Used cars

I got used cars

I got used cars

Right Here!


Good Evening Ladies Gentleman

I know what you are thinking

Can you afford to buy this car?

Let me tell you something.

You can't afford not to buy this car!


Kick the tire!


I never lie I'm a Used Car Salesman


Bankrupt?

Divorced?

No credit?

We finance!


Trust me!

I've got a deal for you.


Get their confidence

Get their friendship

Get their money


Ladies and Gentlemen

Don't settle for less

You deserve this car

It's got—

Power brakes

Power steering

Power windows

Power locks

Power seats

Power antenna

It's loaded!


Used Cars

You got Used Right Left Here!


This is my last offer

Take it or leave it!

As is. No warranty


Don't blame me!

I'm a used car Salesman


— Michael Daugherty


Reproduction Rights:

This program note may be reproduced free of charge in concert programs with a credit to the composer.