"Car Wash" is a hit song by American R&B band Rose Royce. It was the group's debut single and one of the most notable successes of the 1970s disco era. "Car Wash", the theme of the 1976 motion picture Car Wash, was Rose Royce's most successful single and the lead single from their debut studio album, the Car Wash soundtrack. Reaching number-one in the United States on the Billboard pop and R&B charts, "Car Wash" also peaked at number three on the dance chart and reached number nine in the UK Singles chart in February 1977. The song was later covered in 2004 by Christina Aguilera and Missy Elliott, who released their version as the single for the Shark Tale soundtrack.
Background
Former Motown Records producer Norman Whitfield had been commissioned to record the soundtrack album for Car Wash by director Michael Schultz. Although Whitfield did not want to assume the project, he decided to do so, both for financial incentives as well as the chance to give Rose Royce, a disco/funk backing band that Whitfield signed to his own label in 1975, the exposure they needed to become mainstream. Unable to develop a theme song for the film, inspiration finally struck Whitfield while playing a game of basketball, and he allegedly wrote his first draft of "Car Wash" on a paper bag from a fried chicken eatery.
The resulting song set the mood and tone for the comedy film it was commissioned for. Rose Royce lead singer Rose Norwalt (Gwen Dickey), with brief assistance from guitarist Kenji Brown, describes a fun and easy-going car washing business, where everything is "always cool/and the boss don't mind sometimes if you act a fool."
The Car Wash soundtrack, a double album, was Rose Royce's debut album, and the title track was their debut single. "Car Wash" sold two million copies, and was a number one success on both the Billboard popular and R&B charts in the United States and a top ten success in the United Kingdom. The song held the number-one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for one week, from January 23 to January 29, 1977, replacing "I Wish" by Stevie Wonder and replaced by "Torn Between Two Lovers" by Mary MacGregor. The Car Wash soundtrack album, entirely recorded by Rose Royce and Whitfield, spawned two more successful singles: "I Wanna Get Next to You" and "I'm Going Down" (later covered in 1994 by Mary J. Blige).
The Car Wash soundtrack won a 1977 Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album.
In 1988 the song was re-released as a double A-side single with "Is It Love You're After?" in the United Kingdom, peaking at #20.
Track listings
- UK 7" vinyl
- "Car Wash" â€" 5:06
- "Water" â€" 3:31
- US 12" vinyl
- "Car Wash" (Mustard Mix) â€" 6:45
- "Car Wash" (Mustard Dub) â€" 5:34
Charts
Succession
Car Wash '98
In 1998, "Car Wash" was remixed and interpreted in a duet with Gwen Dickey. Officially titled "Car Wash '98", the release also carries the alternative title "Car Wash '98 (The Monday Nightclub Mixes)", as the group Monday Nightclub was involved in the mixing.
Track listing
- CD single
- "Car Wash '98" (Mustard Edit) - 3:09
- "Car Wash '98" (Mustard Mix) - 6:45
- "Car Wash '98" (Mustard Dub) - 5:34
- "Car Wash '98" (Levent's & Olli's Cream City Club Mix) - 6:19
- "Car Wash '98" (Levent's Talking About Dub Mix) - 7:56
- "Car Wash" (Original Version) - 3:20
Charts
Christina Aguilera and Missy Elliott version
In 2004, American singer Christina Aguilera featuring rapper-singer Missy Elliott recorded a cover version of "Car Wash", giving the disco song a more modern feel and adding rapped verses from Elliott. In an interview Aguilera said, "We had to change the key to be a little bit higher for my range. So we couldn't take the exact samples, but we brought in all these live instruments to recreate kind of this old, old classic, soulful feel and sound...."
"Car Wash" was the only single from the soundtrack to DreamWorks' computer animated film Shark Tale. Aguilera and Elliott's cover of "Car Wash" missed the U.S. Billboard Top 40, peaking at number sixty-three, while becoming a top five hit in the United Kingdom and became the 48th best selling single in the United Kingdom of 2004 with sales of over 100,000 copies. In this context, the "car wash" the song refers to would be the place where Oscar (the main protagonist, voiced by Will Smith) works, where large sea animals who behave like cars are washed in the same manner. The single has sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide.
Music video
The music video to Aguilera's version shows her and Elliott as animated fish similar to those in the film, combined with scenes of Aguilera and Elliott recording the song in a recording studio. The video also includes scenes of Shark Tale. The scenes of Aguilera and Elliott recording the song in the studio were shot by Rich Newey, while the scenes of Aguilera as a jellyfish and Elliott as a fish were edited by Peter Lonsdale and John Venzon, who also edited Shark Tale.
Track listings
- CD single
- "Car Wash" (Christina Aguilera featuring Missy Elliott) â€" 3:51
- "Can't Wait" (Avant) â€" 3:45
- "Digits" (fan 3) â€" 3:39
- "Car Wash" (music video)
- Pocket maxi single
- "Car Wash" â€" 3:51
- "Can't Wait" â€" 3:45
- Digital download
- "Car Wash (Shark Tale Mix)" â€" 3:49
- "Can't Wait" â€" 3:43
- "Digits" â€" 3:38
Release history
Charts and certifications
Other versions
- Andy Caine and The Easy Virtue Orchestra recorded a 1920s swing version for the soundtrack of the period drama Easy Virtue.
- In 1977, the song was performed by the cast of The Brady Bunch Variety Hour in a bizarre skit based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
- The Christian McBride Trio recorded a version for their 2015 album Live At The Village Vanguard.
- The cast of That's So Raven released a parody of the song called "Dog Wash" in the Season 3 episode "Dog Day Aftergroom".
See also
- List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1977
- List of Billboard Hot Soul number-one singles of 1977
