6 songs about cars and romance

We dedicated the May/June 2023 issue of Hagerty Drivers Club magazine to the deep connections between music and cars, including several fun lists featuring your favorite car songs. Come back often or click the Music & Cars tag to stay up to date on these stories as they roll out online. You can also jam with our custom Music & Cars playlist on Spotify, available here.

If there’s a recorded music subject that tops cars, it’s the related topics of sex and romance. Going back to the beginning, almost 120 years ago, “In My Merry Oldsmobile”—which urban historian Kenneth T. Jackson once called the “best-known song written about the automobile”—is riddled with double-entendre couplets about the young motorist and his passenger, so many that when Oldsmobile later used it in advertisements, the company changed the lyrics. With lines like They like to ‘spark’ in the dark old park, and You can go as far as you like with me, in my merry Oldsmobile, such “aftermarket” modifications by Olds’ ad men surely made sense.

Jumping ahead a century, those squeamish Oldsmobile agency types would be glad they’re not still alive, as Rihanna’s considerably more licentious “Shut Up and Drive” from 2007 illustrates:

’Cause your Maybach ain’t got what I got
Get it, get it, don’t stop, it’s a sure shot
Ain’t a Ferrari, huh, boy, I’m sorry
I ain’t even worried, so step inside
And ride, ride, ride
So if you feel me, let me know, know, know
Come on now, what you waiting for, for, for
My engine’s ready to explode, explode, explode
So start me up and watch me go, go, go, go

The following six songs also fit the theme of cars and romance …

Cyndi Lauper, Céline Dion, Roy Orbison
“I DROVE ALL NIGHT” (covered by)

I had to escape
The city was sticky and cruel

These are the very first words of the song, and no matter whose version you prefer, has there ever been a better lyric about the need to jump in the car and get out of town for a while? That there’s some nooky at the end of the road just sweetens the deal.

Simon & Garfunkel
“BABY DRIVER”

They call me Baby Driver
And once upon a pair of wheels
I hit the road and I’m gone
What’s my number?
I wonder how your engines feel
Scoot down the road, what’s my number?
I wonder how your engines feel

If those engines are big-blocks in traffic, they probably feel pretty damn hot, Paul Simon. If they’re 911 flat-sixes with IMS bearing failure, I’d wager they’re cold and dead.

Scissor Sisters
“LOVERS IN THE BACKSEAT”

There’s lovers in the backseat
Jealous glances now I’m looking for another song
On the radio
I’ll take you to a side street
In the shadows you can touch one another now
And I’ll just watch the show

Whatever, creepshow Uber driver.

Hot Chocolate
“HEAVEN IS IN THE BACK SEAT OF MY CADILLAC”

Can’t stand it
Can’t stand it, baby
When I’m close to you I wanna touch you
There are people everywhere
People who like to stare

Yeah, people like that creepshow Uber driver. Eyes on the road, pal!

Meat Loaf
“PARADISE BY THE DASHBOARD LIGHT”

Two down, nobody on, no score, bottom of the ninth,
There’s the windup, and there it is, a line shot up the middle,
Look at him go. This boy can really fly! He’s rounding first and really
Turning it on now, he’s not letting up at all, he’s gonna try for second

They just don’t write sexy baseball songs like they used to.

Lana Del Rey
“BURNING DESIRE”

I drive fast, wind in my hair, push it to the limits ’cause I just don’t care
I’ve got a burning desire for you, baby

Well, just wait ’til you’ve got points on your license, girl. It’ll affect your insurance rates, and that’ll make for some tough choices in the monthly budget. Then you’ll care. Then you’ll care.

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This article first appeared in Hagerty Drivers Club magazine. Click here to subscribe and join the club.

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