The Cars – My Best Friend’s Girl

This song is off of The Cars great debut album. The song is full of catchy hooks. What makes this song to me is guitarist Elliot Easton’s Rockabilly licks flowing through it. The song was written and sung by Ric Ocasek. The song peaked at #44 in the Billboard 100, #3 in the Uk and #55 in Canada in 1978.

Ric Ocasek

Nothing in that song happened to me personally. I just figured having a girlfriend stolen was probably something that happened to a lot of people.

I wrote the words and music at the same time: “You’re always dancing down the street / with your suede blue eyes / And every new boy that you meet / he doesn’t know the real surprise.”

The “suede blue eyes” line was a play on Carl Perkins’s “Blue Suede Shoes.” When I wrote, “You’ve got your nuclear boots / and your drip-dry glove,” I envisioned the boots and gloves as a cool ’50s fashion statement.

As for the last lines—“And when you bite your lip / it’s some reaction to love”—they were an emotional gesture. I was reading a lot of poets then.

At some point, I realized my lyrics didn’t include the words “My Best Friend’s Girl.” So I pulled out the lyrics someone had typed up and added a chorus in the margin in pen: “She’s my best friend’s girl / she’s my best friend’s girl / but she used to be mine.”

I liked the twist. Up until that point, you think the singer stole his best friend’s girl based on how good he feels about her: “When she’s dancing ’neath the starry sky / she’ll make you flip.”

With the last line of the chorus, “But she used to be mine,” you realize the guy didn’t steal his best friend’s girl—his friend stole her away from him.

My Best Friend’s Girl

You’re always dancing down the street
With your suede blue eyes
And every new boy that you meet
He doesn’t know the real surprise
Here she comes again
When she’s dancing ‘neath the starry sky
She’ll make you flip
Here she comes again
When she’s dancing ‘neath the starry sky
You kinda like the way she dips
She’s my best friend’s girl
She’s my best friend’s girl
And she used to be mine
You’ve got your nuclear boots
And your drip dry glove
And when you bite your lip
It’s some reaction to love

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

5 thoughts on “The Cars – My Best Friend’s Girl”

    2. I saw The Cars live twice: in 1984, in Denver, with Wang Chung opening, and 2011, in Oakland.

      In 1984 they were too cool and too big to let on they were having fun. If indeed they were having any fun. I think Ric Ocasek said “Thank you” at one point. They weren’t just cool, they were cold. The huge spectacle around them (banks of people at computer keyboards awash in laser lights??) did not help. Wang Chung was much more engaging. I wonder if The Cars were enjoying touring at all at that point.

      The crowd did respond when they played the entire second side of the first album.

      The 2011 show was much better. Ric Ocasek smiled. Greg Hawkes chattered. You could tell they all were still grieving Ben Orr. It was a warmer presentation than 1984, and they could still rock. They seemed to be having fun.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Leave a comment