From its inception, the automobile quickly made its way into our popular culture. You can watch TV shows and movies about cars. You can play racing video games and read books about them. Of course, you can also listen to any number of songs about them. In fact, car songs have made up some of the most memorable songs out there. Let’s see some.

Going back in time to the 1980s will reveal two little gems of car songs, one by Prince and one by Natalie Cole. The first is “Pink Cadillac” by Natalie Cole. Technically it wasn’t hers. It was originally written by Bruce Springsteen in 1984 and released as a B-side on the album “Dancing in the Dark”. The song had moderate radio success and peaked at # 27 on the Billboard charts, but it wasn’t until Natalie covered it in 1988 that it reached the top ten. For the record, these are not Mary Kay products, but a sexual euphemism.

The other song we mentioned was Prince’s “Little Red Corvette” on the 1999 album. This song about the legendary Chevy was Prince’s first song to reach the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching a solid number six. Equally important was their first song to do better on the pop charts than on the R&B charts, largely due to its poppy chorus. While Chevy couldn’t ask for a better promotion, most people don’t realize that this is also a sexual euphemism.

There are many other famous songs about cars (and sex) like “Drive My Car” by The Beatles and “Mustang Sally” by Wilson Pickett, but one song rises above all others to claim the title of best car song and that would be Don McLean’s. “American foot.” Written in 1971, this song was a metaphor for the good old days of rock ‘n roll and the deaths of rock legends Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and Big Bopper, who all died together in a plane crash in 1959. The phrase ” drove my Chevy to the rate, but the rate was dry, “has become one of the memorable lyrics in the history of music. It was number one on the Billboards for four weeks in a row and inspired the Roberta Flack song “Killing Me Softly.” It’s a song from the glory days that have come and gone since and few songs are as important as “American Pie.”