Pink Caddillac by Bruce Sprinsteen
The song “Pink Cadillac” is a funny, rockability song from 1984. It is originally sung by Bruce Springsteen, but is better known as 1988 Top 10 hit single performed by Natalie Cole, R&B style. The song is a continuation of the patented Springsteen obsession with car imagery in songs. The album containing the song was was originally recorded by Springsteen in May 1983.
Natalie Cole’s rendition of the “Pink Cadillac” was a #5 Billboard Hot 100 pop hit in 1988, as well as a #16 Adult Contemporary hit. It also topped to #1 on the Dance chart. Then in 2001, AOL banned using the lyrics in quotation in a Springsteen discussion group because according to them, the lyrics were too suggestive. One of the allegedly offending lines was “My love is bigger than a Honda, yeah it’s bigger than a Subaru.” This lyric references ”Not Fade Away” by Buddy Holly, which has a line that says: “And my love is bigger than a Cadillac/I’ll try to show it if you drive me back.”
“Pink Cadillac” was played mostly on Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s 1984-1985 Born in the U.S.A. Tour. It was played as a comic relief number, which was eventually elongated to include a low-budget skit involving Springsteen as a Jimmy Swaggert-style teleevangelist.
However, since that tour, the “Pink Cadillac” was played less than a dozen times and disappeared from the Springsteen repertoire.
PINK CADILLAC
by Bruce Springsteen
You may think I’m foolish
For the foolish things I do
You may wonder how come I love you
When you get on my nerves like you do
Well baby you know you bug me
There ain’t no secret ’bout that
Well come on over here and hug me
Baby I’ll spill the facts
Well honey it ain’t your money
‘Cause baby I got plenty of that
I love you for your pink Cadillac
Crushed velvet seats
Riding in the back
Oozing down the street
Waving to the girls
Feeling out of sight
Spending all my money
On a Saturday night
Honey I just wonder what you do there in back
Of your pink Cadillac
Pink Cadillac
Well now way back in the Bible
Temptations always come along
There’s always somebody tempting
Somebody into doing something they know is wrong
Well they tempt you, man, with silver
And they tempt you, sir, with gold
And they tempt you with the pleasures
That the flesh does surely hold
They say Eve tempted Adam with an apple
But man I ain’t going for that
I know it was her pink Cadillac
Crushed velvet seats
Riding in the back
Oozing down the street
Waving to the girls
Feeling out of sight
Spending all my money
On a Saturday night
Honey I just wonder what it feels like in the back
Of your pink Cadillac
Now some folks say it’s too big
And uses too much gas
Some folks say it’s too old
And that it goes too fast
But my love is bigger than a Honda
It’s bigger than a Subaru
Hey man there’s only one thing
And one car that will do
Anyway we don’t have to drive it
Honey we can park it out in back
And have a party in your pink Cadillac
