| "Drive" | ||||||||
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| Single by The Cars | ||||||||
| from the album Heartbeat City | ||||||||
| B-side | "Stranger Eyes" | |||||||
| Released | July 23, 1984 | |||||||
| Format | 7" | |||||||
| Recorded | 1984 | |||||||
| Genre | Pop, New wave | |||||||
| Length | 3:55 | |||||||
| Label | Elektra | |||||||
| Writer(s) | Ric Ocasek | |||||||
| Producer | Robert John "Mutt" Lange The Cars |
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| The Cars singles chronology | ||||||||
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"Drive" is a 1984 song by The Cars, the third single from the band's Heartbeat City album and their biggest international hit. It was written by Ric Ocasek, and produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange and The Cars. Lead vocals were by Cars' bassist Benjamin Orr.
"Drive" was The Cars' highest charting single in the United States, peaking at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. On the Adult Contemporary chart, the song went all the way to #1. It also got to #5 in the UK singles chart, becoming their second biggest UK hit, then was re-released in the UK in 1985 (after the Live Aid performance at JFK Stadium), this time charting at #4. The song was also a big hit in what was West Germany, reaching #4, and in Canada, reaching #6. In addition, it was famously used as part of the Live Aid concert in 1985, as the background music to a montage of clips showing poverty-stricken Africa. Bob Geldof later claimed that phone calls to the appeal switchboards escalated dramatically during the song.
The music video for the song stars, besides Ocasek and Orr, Czech-born supermodel Paulina Porizkova, who later married Ocasek. The video was directed by actor Timothy Hutton.
A cover by Ziggy Marley featured in the film "50 First Dates" (2004). The song also appears in the film "Transformers" (2007).
The band Deftones covered this song on the album Saturday Night Wrist.
Deftones' cover version appeared on the trailer of the 2009 remake "The Stepfather".
The song was also covered in 2000 by the New Zealand group, Strawpeople, featuring the vocalist Bic Runga.
A cover by Australian band, The Paradise Motel appeared in the film "He Died with a Felafel in His Hand".
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