This week we’re featuring songs from the cinema, and today’s classic movie song of the day is “Car Wash,” from the 1976 film of the same name, as performed by the group named Rose Royce. The single was released in September of 1976 and went to #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Soul Singles charts. It was also #3 on Billboard’s National Disco Action Top 30 chart and a top ten hit in Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the UK.
“Car Wash” was a catchy tune with a heavy disco beat, written and produced by Norman Whitfield, former Motown songwriter and producer. He was asked by the movie’s director, Michael Schultz, to do the soundtrack for the film. Whitfield used the Car Wash soundtrack as an opportunity to give a big push to Rose Royce, a band he’d recently signed to his own label. (The soundtrack album was released by MCA Records, however, since MCA’s parent company, Universal, released the film.)
Rose Royce was a Los Angeles-based disco/funk group comprised of Gwen Dickey (lead vocals), Kenji Brown (guitar, vocals), Victor Nix (keyboards), Lequeint “Duke” Jobe (bass), Henry Garner (drums), Terral “Terry” Santiel (congas), Michael Moore (saxophone), Kenny Copeland (trumpet, vocals), and Freddie Dunn (trumpet). Whitfield discovered them when they were touring Europe behind Motown artist Edwin Starr, who Whitfield also wrote for and produced. (You remember Edwin Starr from his Whitfield-produced hit, “War.”) The original group stayed together until 1980, when Dickey left for a solo career, although some original members continued on with a replacement singer.
The movie Car Wash was a comedy about a typical day at a typical L.A. car wash. It starred Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Franklyn Ajaye, Garrett Morris, Ivan Dixon, Irwin Corey, and Antonio Fargas, with cameo appearances by the Pointer Sisters, Danny DeVito, and Brooke Adams. It was a modest hit that received a 3 1/2-star review from Roger Ebert, who called it “a sunny, lively comedy.” His partner, Gene Siskel, gave it 3 stars and said it was “quite entertaining.”
And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, the original trailer for the movie Car Wash. Work and work, those cars never seem to stop coming…
