A car (or automobile) is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transportation. Most definitions of cars say that they run primarily on roads, seat one-to-eight people, have four wheels and mainly transport people rather than goods. Cars came into global use during the 20th century, and developed economies depend on them. The year 1886 is regarded as the birth year of the car when German inventor Karl Benz patented his Benz-Patent-Motorwagen. Cars became widely available in the early 20th century. One of the first cars accessible to the masses was the 1908 Model T, an American car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. Cars were rapidly adopted in the US, where they replaced animal-drawn carriages and carts. In Europe and other parts of the world, demand for automobiles did not increase until after World War II.
“Beep Beep” (The Bubble Car Song) is a novelty single by The Playmates, released in 1958 by Roulette Records as the B-side to “Your Love”. “Beep Beep” was written by Carl Cicchetti and Donald Claps, the band’s arrnger/pianist and drummer respectively. The tempo of the song gradually increases commensurate with the increasing speed of the drivers. Roulette did not want to release the song as a single because the song changed tempo, it explicitly named contemporary products on the market, and was not danceable; when disc-jockeys began playing it off the album, it forced the label’s hand, and Roulette released the single. Because of a contemporary BBC directive that prohibited songs with brand names in their lyrics, a UK version of “Beep Beep” was recorded for the European market, replacing the Cadillac and Nash Rambler brand names with the generic terms limousine and bubble car.
Drive My Car” is a song by the Beatles, written primarily by Paul McCartney, with lyrical contributions from John Lennon. It was first released on the British version of the band’s 1965 album Rubber Soul; it also appeared in North America on the Yesterday and Today collection. The upbeat, lighthearted “Drive My Car” was used as the opening track for both albums.
“Vehicle” is a song recorded by American rock band The Ides of March for their debut studio album of the same name (1970). It was released as the lead single from the album in March 1970 through Warner Bros. Written by vocalist and frontman Jim Peterik, the song is about a girl that often used him for his mode of transportation, leading Peterik to surmise that he was little more than her “vehicle”. The arrangement includes a distinctive horn section riff, which caused some listeners to mistake the band for Blood, Sweat and Tears, who were also popular in that era. “Vehicle” was a commercial success, and was purported to be the fastest-selling single in the history of Warner Bros. at that time. It peaked at number 2 on the Billboard in the US, while reaching the top 5 in Canada and top 30 in the United Kingdom. Despite this, the Ides of March never had another hit single, leaving them one-hit wonders.
“Cars” is the debut solo single by Gary Numan. It was released in August 1979 and is from his debut studio album, The Pleasure Principle. The song reached the top of the charts in several countries, and today is considered a new wave staple. The song was the first release credited solely to Gary Numan after he dropped the band name Tubeway Army, under which he had released four singles and two LP’s. Musically, the new song was somewhat lighter and more pop-oriented than its predecessors, Numan later conceding that he had chart success in mind: “This was the first time I had written a song with the intention of ‘maybe it could be a hit single’; I was writing this before ‘Are “Friends” Electric?’ happened.” He has since described “Cars” as “a pretty average song”.
“Driving in My Car” is a song by Madness. It was released as a stand-alone single in July 1982 and spent eight weeks on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number four. It reached number 20 on the Australian Singles Chart. “Driving in My Car” was the 13th in a run of 20 consecutive UK top 20 hits for Madness, and is the only one of those 20 never to have been officially released on a Madness album in the USA. It was later included on the 2010 re-release of the band’s 1982 album The Rise and Fall, as well as its two B-sides.
“Fast Car” is a song written and recorded by American singer Tracy Chapman. It was released in April 1988, as the lead single from her 1988 debut studio album. Her appearance on the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute was the catalyst for the song’s becoming a top-ten hit in the United States, peaking at number six on the Billboard. In the United Kingdom, it peaked at number four. “Fast Car” received two Grammy nominations nominations for Record and Song of the Year in 1989.
“Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car” is a 1988 single by Trinidadian-British singer Billy Ocean, based on a line in the Sherman Brothers’ song “You’re Sixteen”. Part of its popularity lay in its cutting-edge (for the time) video, which featured animation mixed with live-action sequences. The song became Ocean’s third and final US number one single to date, going to number one on the US Billbaord chart. It was also his seventh and most recent single to reach the US top ten. The song also peaked at number one in seven other countries, including Canada, where it was the country’s most successful single of 1988. It peaked at #3 in the UK, making it Ocean’s sixth and last top ten hit to date.
