Car Wash (1976) 10/24/20

Today's “Great Song of the '70s” was conceived to be the opening number of a musical written for the Broadway stage. It was never produced.

Instead, it was made into a movie...starring a racially mixed cast that included George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Antonio Fargas, Melanie Mayron, The Pointer Sisters, and a newcomer named Danny DiVito.

Note: There are TWO versions of the film. Due to some R-rated subject matter dealing with homosexuality (still very much a taboo topic in 1976), the Fargas subplot was edited, while the DiVito subplot was padded for TV viewing. (Today's video link features the opening credits.)

The film depicted a day in the lives of the employees and patrons of an L.A. “Car Wash,” and film critics loved it! For example. Roger Ebert gave it 3.5 stars (and 2 thumbs up), calling it a “sunny, lively comedy with a tremendous sense of life.”

The theme song, recorded by the group Rose Royce, was one of the biggest hits of the mid-disco era: Top 10 in 11 countries, including #1 on Canada's Top 40. In the US, it reached #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 and Soul Charts, as well as #3 on the Disco Chart. The “Car Wash” soundtrack album won the Grammy Award for “Best Score/Soundtrack.”

In the discos, the syncopated hand clapping at the beginning of the song, was a cue for dancers to fill the floor—and they did!

Skipping ahead to 2004, Christina Aguilera and Missy Elliott recorded a remake for the movie “Shark Tale,” that became a Top 10 hit in 13 countries around the world...but not in Canada (#22) or the US (#23). Good stuff nonetheless.

“Car Wash,” somewhat of a cult film in 2020...with a theme song that was a “Great Song of 1976” (and 2004).

Rose Royce:

Christina and Missy: