In “One Piece at a Time,” the narrator assembles a Cadillac from stolen parts.
Wayne Kemp wrote the country novelty song, which Johnny Cash recorded with the Tennessee Three in 1976. Its narrator works on an automobile assembly line and cannot afford the cars he helps build, so he secretly takes components from the factory one piece at a time.
The joke depends on the parts coming from different model years. After decades of collecting pieces, the narrator tries to create a complete Cadillac, only to discover that the mismatched components do not fit together neatly. The finished vehicle is an absurd “psychobilly” Cadillac rather than a normal production car.
The song became Cash’s last No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles chart and his final appearance on the Billboard Hot 100. A real promotional car associated with the song was built with mismatched Cadillac parts, reinforcing the song’s fictional premise. The narrator’s employer and the theft plot are part of the comic story, not a documented Cash confession.