"Car Song" is a song by the Britpop

Britpop

Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s...

 group Elastica

Elastica

Elastica were an English alternative rock band that played punk rock-influenced music. They were best known for their 1995 album Elastica, which produced singles that charted in the US and the UK.-History:...

. It was originally released in 1995 on the band's self-titled debut album

Elastica (album)

Elastica is the debut album by English alternative rock group Elastica, released in March 1995. At the time the fastest-selling debut album ever in the UK, Elastica was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. It hit #1 on the UK Albums Chart...

. A year later, it was released as a single.

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

Canadian rock/alternative chart

The Canadian rock/alternative chart was first published on June 11, 1995 by RPM magazine under the name Alternative 30. The song which held the number-one spot on this first chart was "More Human than Human" by White Zombie...

.

Background

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

Justine Frischmann

Justine Elinor Frischmann is an English singer and guitarist, best known for being the lead singer of the now defunct band Elastica...

. The song is about having sex in a car.

Release

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

Geffen Records

Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...

. Another version of the song, titled "Four Wheeling", was included on Elastica's compilation album, Elastica Radio One Sessions

Elastica Radio One Sessions

The Elastica Radio One Sessions is a compilation of BBC Radio One sessions recorded by Britpop group Elastica. The album is notable for the appearance of several songs not included on any other Elastica release.-Track listing:...

.

Critical reception

"Car Song" received generally positive reviews from music critics. According to Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...

, the song "makes sex in a car actually sound sexy". Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...

s Chuck Eddy

Chuck Eddy

Chuck Eddy is an American music journalist.He was born in Detroit, Michigan. After starting his journalism career with The Village Voice and Creem, where he published one of the first national interviews with the Beastie Boys in the mid-1980s, Eddy then wrote for Rolling Stone, Spin,...

 wrote that "Justine Frischmann's awkward sex-in-a-Ford-Fiesta

Ford Fiesta

The Ford Fiesta is a front wheel drive supermini/subcompact manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company and built in Europe, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, China, India, Thailand and South Africa...

 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 December 23, 1995. It also spent nine weeks on the Canadian alternative chart, peaking at #14 there.

In popular media

"Car Song" was included on the 2002 soundtrack Our Little Corner of the World: Music from Gilmore Girls

Our Little Corner of the World: Music from Gilmore Girls

Our Little Corner of the World: Music from Gilmore Girls is a 2002 soundtrack release from Rhino Records for The WB's Gilmore Girls. The album is a combination of selections from the score composed by Sam Phillips and the music of other musicians heard, mostly, during the first two seasons of the...

.

Music video

The song's music video, directed by Spike Jonze

Spike Jonze

Spike Jonze is an American director, producer and actor, whose work includes music videos, commercials, film and television...

, has been described as a "futuristic thriller combining elements of Blade Runner

Blade Runner

Blade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K...

and Japanese monster films".

Tracklist

CD single

1. "Car Song" [LP Version]
2. "Car Song"
3. "Bar Bar Bar"
4. "Jam" [II]
5. "Gloria"

Charts

Chart	Peak position
US Alternative Songs	33
Canadian Alternative Rock Canadian rock/alternative chart The Canadian rock/alternative chart was first published on June 11, 1995 by RPM magazine under the name Alternative 30. The song which held the number-one spot on this first chart was "More Human than Human" by White Zombie...	14