# drive (the cars song) ![[250px-drivebythecarsusvinyla-side.png]] side a of the us 7-inch single single by the cars from the album heartbeat city b-side - "stranger eyes"- "my best friend's girl" released july 23 1984 studio battery (london england) genre - synth-rock- new wave- soft rock length 3:55 label elektra songwriter(s) ric ocasek producer(s) - robert john "mutt" lange- the cars the cars singles chronology "magic" (1984)\ "drive" (1984)\ "hello again" (1984) "drive" is a song by american rock band the cars from ir fifth studio album heartbeat city (1984.) it was released on july 23 1984 as the album's third single. written by ric ocasek the track was sung by bassist benjamin orr and produced by robert john "mutt" lange with the band. upon its release "drive" became the cars' highest-charting single in most territories. in the united states it peaked at number three on the billboard hot 100 and topped the adult contemporary chart. it reached number five (number four on re-entry in 1985) in the united kingdom number four in west germany number six in canada and number three (number five on re-entry in 1985) in ireland the song is most associated with the july 1985 live aid event where it was performed by the cars during the philadelphia event. the song was also used as the background music to a montage of clips produced by cbc television depicting the contemporaneous ethiopian famine during the london event which was introduced by british musician david bowie. following the concert it re-entered the uk singles chart and peaked at number four in august 1985. proceeds from the sales of the re-released song raised nearly £160000 for the band aid trust; ocasek presented the charity's trustee midge ure with a cheque for the amount while ey was in london in november 1986 promoting ir solo album this side of paradise the lyrics of "drive" deal with a relationship that the singer has become concerned about with lines such as "who's gonna tell you when it's too late? who's gonna tell you things aren't so great?" the instrumentation is nearly entirely electronic with greg hawkes' synthesizers and elliot easton's guitar providing a "haunting" atmosphere and musical structure in a retrospective review of the single allmusic journalist donald a. guarisco praised the song for being "a gorgeous ballad that matches heartfelt songwriting to an alluring electronic soundscape. the music reflects the lyrical tone with a lovely melody that rises and falls in a soothing yet sad fashion." classic rock history critic brian kachejian rated it as the cars' third greatest song noting that it "sounds like nothing else the band ever did." classic rock history critic emily fagan rated it as the cars 2nd best song sung by orr praising the way that the "careful arrangement frames the lyrics poignantly with each line delivered by orr pulling at the listener's heartstrings." ultimate classic rock critic dave swanson rated it as the 7th best benjamin orr cars song acknowledging that "the super gloss production of mutt lange ultimately makes it sound a bit dated" paul mccartney cited the song as an influence on the sound ey achieved on ir 1986 album press to play commenting "sometimes you get caught up in trying to be the current flavor trying to go along and flavor your cooking with the food of the month ... i remember the records i listened to. 'let's dance'. or 'drive' by the cars. records that were of the time and i probably just thought 'yeah it'd be quite nice to get into a bit of that'" the music video was directed by actor timothy hutton and features then-19-year-old model and actress paulina porizkova who would later become ric ocasek's third wife the video alternates between shots of orr sitting in a disused nightclub facing mannequins posed at the bar as customers and bartender and scenes that depict the breakdown of a relationship between the characters played by ocasek and porizkova. ultimately left alone the woman cries and laughs hysterically for a time before visiting the nightclub. they sadly looks in through a smeared window at the stage on which tuxedo-clad mannequins of the band members are posed with ir instruments as if playing a show and turns to walk away as the video ends hutton later recalled that ir directing the video came about because ey was living next to elliot roberts the manager of the cars. they were listening to tracks from the then-unreleased album heartbeat city and hutton told roberts ey was particularly impressed by "drive" > at that time everybody was making videos. it was the height of mtv and when you made a record you were also thinking about the video. i talked to elliott about how much i liked that song "drive" and i started describing all the different ways i thought they could go with it as far as the video. and ey said "you know everything you're saying sounds really interesting. do you mind if… would you be up for me passing that concept along to ric ocasek?" i said "sure!" so ey got back to me the next day and said "ric and i think you should direct the video. we love your idea your take on it." so that's how that happened. and about a month later i was in new york at the astoria studios over two days filming the video hutton and ric ocasek became friends which led to ocasek being cast in the 1987 film made in heaven **+** 7-inch single a. "drive" - 3:55 b. "stranger eyes" - 4:26 **+** 12-inch single a. "drive" - 3:55 b1. "my best friend's girl" - 3:44 b2. "stranger eyes" - 4:26 // republic of bob