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The Car Song

This article is about the 2005 The Cat Empire song. For The Woody Guthrie song, see Riding in My Car.
Not to be confused with The Car (song).
"The Car Song"
Single by The Cat Empire
from the album Two Shoes
B-side
  • "The Mother Place"
  • "The Return"
  • "Someday (Car Song Blues)"
ReleasedJune 2005
Recorded2004
StudioEGREM Studios
GenreIndie
Length4:20
LabelEMI/Virgin
Songwriter(s)Harry James Angus
The Cat Empire singles chronology
"Sly"
(2005) 		"The Car Song"
(2005) 		"Two Shoes"
(2005)

"The Car Song" is a song by Australian band The Cat Empire. it was released in June 2005 as the second single from the band's second studio album, Two Shoes. The single peaked at #46 in the Australian singles chart.[1]

In the song, Harry James Angus narrates his experiences as a struggling student who everyone insisted was "going to be a lawyer some day". However, rather than study or concentrate on an exam, all he could think about was playing music, playing basketball, or asking a childhood crush out on a date. In the latter part of the song, he meets one of his highschool acquaintances, who has indeed become a lawyer, and is now going out with the same girl. It was rated number 25 on the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2005. It was also featured as the opening and closing theme for 'The Wrong Way Home with Akmal, Cal and Ed' on Nova 100 in 2008.

The Ben Quinn directed music video was nominated for Best Video at the ARIA Music Awards of 2005.[2]

Music video

[edit]

The music video features the members of the band competing in a basketball match (the "Guilt Resolution Cup") against people from Harry James Angus' "sordid past". Sigmund Freud is the team's coach. At the end of the game, Angus fails to score a critical basket, and the Cat Empire loses the game.

It was filmed at Victoria University's Footscray Park campus, with fans of the band used as extras.

Track listing

[edit]
Australian CD single (0946 3 32073 2 5)
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."The Car Song"Harry Angus04:20
2."The Mother Place"Felix Riebl04:29
3."The Return"Riebl04:07
4."Someday (Car Song Blues)"Angus04:44
Total length:17:40

Charts

[edit]
Chart (2005) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[3] 46

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "australian-charts.com - The Cat Empire - The Car Song". Retrieved 25 April 2009.
  2. ^ ARIA Award previous winners. "Winners by Award – Artisan Awards – Best Video". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  3. ^ "The Cat Empire – The Car Song". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 20 September 2021.