Drive / Stranger Eyes
By The Cars
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Track listing
- A Drive 3:55
- B Stranger Eyes 4:26
- Total length: 8:21
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12 Issues
- Release view [combined information for all issues]
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Drive / Stranger Eyes [p] 45 rpm
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Drive 45 rpm, Promo
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Drive / Stranger Eyes 45 rpm
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Drive / Stranger Eyes 33 rpm
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Drive / Stranger Eyes 45 rpm
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Drive / Stranger Eyes 45 rpm
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Drive / Stranger Eyes 45 rpm
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Drive / Hello Again 45 rpm
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Drive / Stranger Eyes 45 rpm
18 Reviews
For many years I thought of this as just a dumb 80s love song. I was completely wrong. The production is wonderful. The harmonies, the atmosphere, the touch of sadness is all just about perfect. It reminds me of I'm Not in Love by 10cc- both are delicate and ethereal. There could well be direct influence. Yet while the 10cc is a little bit arty in the way the real meaning of the song is directly opposed to the explicit meaning, Drive comes right from the heart. I can see how people might not like this but for me it is one of the best pop songs of the 80s.
Published
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America deafens us with its miasmic muzak, softens the steel of our minds with its corrosive aural ordure. We reel from its deathblows of adult contemporary rock, and buckle beneath the weight of melancholic pop-muck. I mean, don't we though? I know I do. Have done for years now, actually. Went to the doctors several times about it, in fact. All to no avail I might add. Not that you care. You weren't around back then, in the mid-'80s - when chart music was all charty and musical. God I envy you. In so many ways I yearn for your innocence, your care-free interpretations of mass culture - and the way you glide effortlessy over to your - what is it - iPod. Is that it? Ipod? That diddy little thing of yours, with the ear bud wotsits. Yeah - that. Look at it. No bigger than a...a...hmmph. TDK SA90. For instance.
But see, both of us have managed to absorb this song - Drive - in almost equal measure, so that our minds are like a saturated solution of pop's syrupy silt. And yet - and yet - there's still something lurking here. Something that the sacharine tasting synth tinges all but mask. Almost invisible-to-the-ear details, small cells of weirdness. Let me explain - by osmosis our hearts and minds gather up a tune like this. Whether we like it or not, we carry the disease with us - never really questioning what it might mean.
One day though, a line comes at us. A lyric we've ignored or which has - get this - ignored us. "Who's gonna pay attention to your dreams? Who's gonna plug your ears when you scream?" Pardon me? I thought this was a glossy, slow chart number and nothing else. Really? Well you were wrong. It's got something a little bit Goebbels about it - something sinister and vicious lurking beneath those wonderfully luxuriant production values. "Who's gonna hold you down when you shake? Who's gonna come around / When you break?" The man is asking. WHO is gonna do it, huh? You better get your answers straight. And make it quick.
But see, both of us have managed to absorb this song - Drive - in almost equal measure, so that our minds are like a saturated solution of pop's syrupy silt. And yet - and yet - there's still something lurking here. Something that the sacharine tasting synth tinges all but mask. Almost invisible-to-the-ear details, small cells of weirdness. Let me explain - by osmosis our hearts and minds gather up a tune like this. Whether we like it or not, we carry the disease with us - never really questioning what it might mean.
One day though, a line comes at us. A lyric we've ignored or which has - get this - ignored us. "Who's gonna pay attention to your dreams? Who's gonna plug your ears when you scream?" Pardon me? I thought this was a glossy, slow chart number and nothing else. Really? Well you were wrong. It's got something a little bit Goebbels about it - something sinister and vicious lurking beneath those wonderfully luxuriant production values. "Who's gonna hold you down when you shake? Who's gonna come around / When you break?" The man is asking. WHO is gonna do it, huh? You better get your answers straight. And make it quick.
Published
Who's gonna tell you things aren't so great?
If you asked most people "name a song by The Cars", this would probably be the first song they would mention. It was their biggest charting single, peaking at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart. How this was not #1 is beyond me! The song was written by Ric Ocasek and sung by bassist Benjamin Orr.
By this point in popular 80's music, things had reached a peak. Songs could not be any more slick and polished, then what they were. If you tried to polish music up any more it would probably fly off the turntable! This song was slick, well produced and beautiful. It was a magical moment filled with sincere, heartfelt lyrics, spot on/beautiful vocals, and just enough melancholy/haunting vibe to really burn this into your brain for all time! How a song could both stand out and also blend into, the pop culture as a whole, was amazing.
Published
"Drive" is fucking amazing. Sung by bassist Ric Ocasek and he does an amazing job. The whole song just feels so sentimental and captivating, it makes me feel like a nostalgic teenager in the 80's on a summer night with a lover. A beautiful song. 4.5/5.0
Published
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Much ado was made of Benjamin Orr being the vocalist on this one, at least on stations around here - it was always 'here are The Cars with bassist Ben Orr on vocals'. No biggie, of course, but the way they said it gave the impression that it was unique in that facet, when of course not.
Whatever the case, Orr tended to sing my favourite Cars songs, and while this came from my least-favourite album from the band, it's quite certainly one of my favourites from that album, if not favourite flat out. Very good song here, really. The b-side isn't all bad, either - probably the next-best song on the album, actually.
Whatever the case, Orr tended to sing my favourite Cars songs, and while this came from my least-favourite album from the band, it's quite certainly one of my favourites from that album, if not favourite flat out. Very good song here, really. The b-side isn't all bad, either - probably the next-best song on the album, actually.
from the album Heartbeat City
acquired for $1.98 18 Jan 2009 at Nice Price Books, Raleigh NC
RYM review 02 Dec 2010
acquired for $1.98 18 Jan 2009 at Nice Price Books, Raleigh NC
RYM review 02 Dec 2010
Published
Vocalist Ben Orr delivers his finest performance in this moody and moving proto-dream pop ballad.
Published
With this superb song, the Cars proved that synthesisers could sound sympathetic as opposed to synthetic.
With Benjamin Orr's beautifully nuanced lead vocal and the gradual addition of congas, welcome elements of humanity and warmth are added to the ethereal background echoing Ric Ocasek's for once sincere and supportive lyric.
The melody itself is subtle and persuasive, sounding at times like a lullaby to an ailing child, with the little repeated keyboard runs evoking the school playground.
A song of rare beauty in a narcissistic decade, it's the best thing the group ever did.
With Benjamin Orr's beautifully nuanced lead vocal and the gradual addition of congas, welcome elements of humanity and warmth are added to the ethereal background echoing Ric Ocasek's for once sincere and supportive lyric.
The melody itself is subtle and persuasive, sounding at times like a lullaby to an ailing child, with the little repeated keyboard runs evoking the school playground.
A song of rare beauty in a narcissistic decade, it's the best thing the group ever did.
Published
The Cars dial it back a bit, keeping the lyrics simple yet still evocative. End result is a song that's equal parts dreamy, creepy and sad. And there's still no telling which part will emerge on top every time I play it, which is why I keep playing it.
The b-side has a good driving feel to it, but some damn silly lyrics.
The b-side has a good driving feel to it, but some damn silly lyrics.
Published
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