Driving in My Car

"Driving in My Car"
Song

"Driving in My Car" is a one-off single by Madness. It was released on July 24, 1982 and spent 8 weeks on UK chart peaking at number 4.

From the video and most of the lyrics, the track is about a Morris Minor 1000 convertible. The lyrics, however, do lend themselves to a little artistic license, e.g. the Morris was not built by the Tyne, it was built at Cowley, Oxfordshire. This is now the manufacturing plant of the BMW owned Mini.
When this track was written, the A45 ran from Felixstowe to Birmingham passing through Northampton. That road has largely been renamed to the A14 from Felixstowe to Cambridge and the A428 from Cambridge to Northampton.

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 thirteenth in a run of twenty consecutive UK top twenty hits for Madness, and is the only one of those twenty never to have been officially released in the USA in any form.

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

The video shows Madness as car mechanics larking about in their workshop, and in their normal suits driving around in their "Maddiemobile". 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 road mentioned in the song passes through.

Track listing

• 7" single

1. "Driving in My Car" - 3:17
2. "Animal Farm (Tomorrow's Dream Warp Mix)" -4:02

• 12" single

1. "Driving in My Car" - 3:17
2. "Animal Farm (Tomorrow's Dream Warp Mix)" -4:02
3. "Riding On My Bike" - 4:35