"Car Song" is a song by the

Britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. It produced brighter, catchier alternative rock, partly in reaction to the popularity of the darker lyrical themes of the US-led grunge music and to the ...

group

Elastica Elastica were an English rock band formed in London in 1992 by ex- Suede members Justine Frischmann and Justin Welch. The band was stylistically influenced by punk rock, post-punk and new wave music. The band's members changed several times ...

. It was originally released in 1995 on the band's self-titled debut album. It was released as a single in North America and Australia in January 1996 but was never issued in the UK. The song, which is about having sex in a car, received positive reviews from critics. It peaked at #33 on the US Alternative Songs chart and at #14 on the Canadian alternative chart.

Background

"Car Song" was written by Elastica's lead singer,

Justine Frischmann Justine Elinor Frischmann (born 16 September 1969) is an English artist and retired musician. She was the lead singer of the Britpop band Elastica after forming Suede, before retiring from the music industry and pursuing a career as a painter ...

. The song is about having sex in a car.

Release

"Car Song" was first released on Elastica's self-titled debut album on 14 March 1995. Its five-track CD single was released in 1996 by

Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint. Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...

."Car Song - Elastica"
allmusic.com. Retrieved 2 June 2011. Another version of the song, titled "Four Wheeling", was included on Elastica's compilation album, '' Elastica Radio One Sessions''.

Critical reception

"Car Song" received generally positive reviews from music critics. According to Stephen Thomas Erlewine, the song "makes sex in a car actually sound sexy"."Elastica - Elastica"
allmusic.com. Retrieved 2 June 2011. ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

''s

Chuck Eddy Chuck Eddy (born November 26, 1960) is an American music journalist. Life and career Chuck Eddy was born in Detroit, Michigan. After starting his journalism career with ''The Village Voice'' and ''Creem'', where he published one of the first nat ...

wrote that "Justine Frischmann's awkward sex-in-a- Ford-Fiesta forwardness ("Car Song") can charm your pants off."

Chart performance

In the US, the single spent three weeks on the Alternative Songs chart and peaked at #33 on 23 December 1995. "Car Song - Elastica" billboard.com. Retrieved 2 June 2011. It also spent nine weeks on the Canadian alternative chart, peaking at #14 there."Results - RPM"
. collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2 June 2011.

In popular media

"Car Song" was included on an episode of ''

Gilmore Girls ''Gilmore Girls'' is an American Comedy drama, comedy-drama television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino and starring Lauren Graham (Lorelai Gilmore) and Alexis Bledel (Rory Gilmore). The show debuted on October 5, 2000, on The WB and beca ...

'' in addition to appearing on the show's soundtrack '' Our Little Corner of the World: Music from Gilmore Girls''. The song was also featured in TV show ''

Hindsight Hindsight bias, also known as the knew-it-all-along phenomenon or creeping determinism, is the common tendency for people to perceive past events as having been more predictable than they actually were. People often believe that after an event ha ...

''.

Music video

The song's music video, directed by Spike Jonze, has been described as a "futuristic thriller combining elements of ''

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...

'' and Japanese monster films".Beebe, Roger and Middleton, Jason.
Medium Cool: Music Videos from Soundies to Cellphones
' (Duke University Press, 2007), p. 308.

Track list

CD single # "Car Song"

P Version P, or p, is the sixteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''pee'' (pronounced ), plural ''pees''. History The ...

# "Car Song" (Live) # "Bar Bar Bar" (Demo) # "Jam" I(Live) # "Gloria" (Live)

Charts

References

External links

* {{authority control 1996 singles 1995 songs Elastica songs Songs written by Justine Frischmann Songs about cars Geffen Records singles Music videos directed by Spike Jonze