"Driving in My Car" is a single by Madness. It was released on 24 July 1982, and spent eight weeks on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number four. It reached number 20 on the Australian Singles Chart.
From the video and most of the lyrics, the track is about a Morris Minor that was used by the group in the early years before band became famous as seen in the film Take It or Leave It. The lyrics, however, do take some artistic license[citation needed], e.g. the Morris was not built by the Tyne, it was built at Cowley, Oxfordshire.
The B-side to the single was "Animal Farm", a mostly instrumental reworking of the song "Tomorrow's Dream". The 12" release of the single included the song "Riding on My Bike", which is basically a rewording of the main track, sung by Lee Thompson.
"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.
The song was adapted for one of the band's adverts for Honda Japan, along with "In the City". The advert is included in the video version of Divine Madness.
Video[edit][]
The video shows Madness as car mechanics larking about in their workshop, and in their normal suits driving around in their "Maddiemobile" - a white 1959 model Morris Minor. The members of fellow ska/pop group Fun Boy Three make a brief appearance, trying (and failing) to hitch a ride to their home town of Coventry, which the A45 mentioned in the song passes through.[1]
It has been claimed[who?] that the video was an influence on U2's video for "Sweetest Thing" in 1998.
Track listing[edit][]
- 7" single
- "Driving in My Car" - 3:17
- "Animal Farm (Tomorrow's Dream Warp Mix)" -4:02
- 12" single
- "Driving in My Car" - 3:17
- "Animal Farm (Tomorrow's Dream Warp Mix)" -4:02
- "Riding on My Bike" - 4:35