#95: Frozen fire

My high school friend, and neighbor, Mark was often seen and heard roaring about the neighborhood in his peppy 1981 Toyota Tercel, always with one of two songs blasting from it: The Doors’ Break on Through (to the Other Side) or this following song by The Cars. Clearly he was trying hard to market a specific identity for himself. Later, I would buy my first car; coincidently the very same model. But I blasted no songs from it. Oh, I almost certainly would have but I couldn’t afford a powerful enough stereo system.

#95

LET’S GO

By Ric Ocasek (The Cars)

1979, USA

Astutely labelled “another [Cars] double-edged anthem” by famed music critic Brett Milano, it’s one of those songs with extra rocket sauce. You hear what should be the joyful hopping culmination of the chorus followed by – more joyful hopping chorus bits.

Walter Ruhlmann, in The All-Music Guide to Rock called Let's Go "one of the summer songs of the year."

Peak: #5, Canada RPM and #14, U.S. Billboard Top 100. It remains The Cars’ highest peaking song in Canada.  

There’s no question as to the originality of Ocasek’s creation but it is undoubtedly an intentional homage to the 1962 classic of the same name by The Routers:

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