Song Lyric Sunday: The Cars

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This week is the first of two complementary themes that Jim is giving us, as you can see from his post, Heart Of Rock And Roll. For today, we are invited to play something from a Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee, and next Sunday it will be someone we think should be in there but isn’t. I’ll save my rant about the validity of the whole shebang for next week, then! My choice for today, as my title will have shown you, is a band that had their heyday approaching forty years before their induction – better late than never, I guess, though to be fair the Rock Hall didn’t start until 1983, or accept its first inductees until 1986. My choice of act is The Cars, and I’ll be sharing two of the four songs they played during their induction. This first one is my favourite, and its video is brilliant:

And as this is SLS, here are the lyrics:

Oh well uh, you might think I’m crazy
To hang around with you
Or maybe you think I’m lucky
To have somethin’ to do

But I think that you’re wild
Inside me is some child

You might think I’m foolish
Or maybe it’s untrue
(You might think) You might think I’m crazy
(All I want) All I want is you

You might think it’s hysterical
But I know when you’re weak
You think you’re in the movies
And everything’s so deep

But I think that you’re wild
When you flash that fragile smile

You might think it’s foolish
What you put me through
(You might think) You might think I’m crazy
(All I want) All I want is you

And it was hard, so hard to take (So hard to take)
There’s no escape (There’s no escape)
Without a scrape (Without a scrape)
But you kept it going, till the sun fell down
You kept it, going

Oh well uh, you might think I’m delirious
The way I run you down
But somewhere, sometimes
When you’re curious
I’ll be back around

Oh, I think that you’re wild
And so uniquely styled

You might think it’s foolish
This chancy rendezvous
(You might think I’m crazy) You might think I’m crazy
(All I want is you) All I want is you, ah-oo
All I want is you (All I want is you)
All I want is you

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Ric Ocasek

You Might Think lyrics © Lido Music, Inc.

The Cars were inducted in 2018, by Brandon Flowers of The Killers. Sadly by then we had lost one of the original members who made them such a great band: Benjamin Orr was taken by cancer in 2000, at the age of just 53. And Ric Ocasek, their leader, main songwriter, and protagonist in that video, passed away in 2019. The band is no more, but they have left us a legacy of great songs. This one was a track on their fifth album, Heartbeat City, which was released in March 1984 and peaked at #3 in the US and #25 in the UK. I never felt that we did the band justice here: that was actually their highest album placing, though it was good enough for a gold disc for over 100k sales – by comparison, it shifted more than 4m copies in the US. This was the first single taken from the album, in February 1984, peaking at #7 in the US and #88 in the UK – see what I mean? The video, by the way, won countless awards, including the first ever MTV Video Of The Year prize, and the love interest is played by a model, Susan Gallagher.

There are videos of the band playing at their induction, but I couldn’t leave out what is still one of my all time favourite music videos, could I? Here is them from that show, though, playing a track from their debut album:

That first album was called simply The Cars. It was released in June 1978, and reached #18 in the US and #29 in the UK. This was its lead single, in May 1978, peaking at #27 in the US and at #17 in the UK: we were kinder to their early stuff! On record the lead vocals were performed by Benjamin Orr, though of course Ric stepped in for the induction ceremony.

I’m closing today with a bonus video. This was the presentation piece that was played before they took to the stage for their induction, and if you’re quick you can spot a snippet of Benjamin singing that previous song, around 25 seconds in. The video is a reminder of several of their other hits, too:

That’s all for today. I’m off to see if England can win a cricket match – it’s the hope that gets you, every time! Enjoy your Sunday, and I’ll see you again for Tuesday Tunes 😊

30 thoughts on “Song Lyric Sunday: The Cars”

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  4. I am a fan of the cars…could I pick a fav “Drive” although overplayed or Rumors…good choices Clive…It sounds like you are enjoying The Ashes…its Wimbledon for me although I don’t mind the Ashes I have caught the highlights …:) x

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      • LOL. With the Aussies it’s not cheating, it’s ‘gamesmanship.’ When other teams beat them THEN it’s cheating. (I got over them and their/our ‘underarm’ incident years and years ago. It only pains me to think about it maybe once every month or so these days…)

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      • They have a lot of history. A more principled team would never have picked Smith again after the sandpaper episode. It was good to see Carey twice walking out to bat to a rousing chorus of boos, and Bairstow getting into Smith’s head when he got out. Then again, Bairstow has been a liability so far this series. Should be playing Foakes instead.

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  7. Less is more works when you have a great hook or chorus. Inevitably the Cars did. ‘Drive’ didn’t get overplayed (overdriven?) here so it is still listenable-unlike anything off Macs ‘Rumours.’

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    • They kept it simple and melodic, and were very good at it. But I’d prefer to listen to Rumours rather than Drive – I heard it enough times in 1985 to last a lifetime!

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