1952 Vincent Black Lightning

From Rumor and Sigh, the song tells of a thief named James and Red Molly, a girl he charms with a ride on his 1952 Vincent Black Lightning. On his deathbed he leaves her the bike. Perhaps 30 of the motorcycles were made. It was never issued as a single, yet it became a fan favorite, and Time included it in its 2011 list of the all-time 100 songs, praising what one guy could do with a guitar, a voice, an imagination and astonishingly nimble fingers.

Thompson has said he was always looking for English ideas that did not sound corny and had some romance, and the Vincent was an exotic bike of his boyhood around which a song could revolve. In the Guardian in 2026 he said he has never ridden one, but a neighbor owned a Vincent Black Shadow, a very similar machine, and he saw the motorcycle as a good object on which to build a drama. In performance he often swaps the rival makes James lists in his dying speech. Pitchfork called it his best-loved song since Linda and noted its detached storyteller's stance.

Covers

Dick Gaughan recorded it on Sail On (1996), Jeff Lang on Disturbed Folk (1995), the Del McCoury Band on Del and the Boys (2001) and Robert Earl Keen on Happy Prisoner (2015). Bob Dylan played it at a concert in Clarkston, Michigan, on 14 July 2013, and Thompson said he first thought it was a hoax. The band Red Molly takes its name from the song. A live version appears on Two Letter Words: Live 1994.