Which one is your favorite? - XXXVIII -

This week's song is another classic from the 80s that was so popular back in the days. It's a 1984 song by the Cars, the third single from the band's Heartbeat City album released in March 1984 and their biggest international hit. Written by Ric Ocasek, the track was sung by bassist Benjamin Orr and produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange with the band.

Here is the song for this week;

"Drive"

Upon its release, "Drive" became the Cars' highest-charting single in most countries. In the United States, it peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart; on the Adult Contemporary chart, the song went to No. 1. It reached No. 5 (No. 4 on re-entry in 1985) in the United Kingdom, No. 4 in West Germany, No. 6 in Canada, and No. 3 (No. 5 on re-entry in 1985) in Ireland.

The song is mostly associated with the July 1985 Live Aid event, where it was performed by Benjamin Orr during the Philadelphia event; previously, the song was used as the background music to a montage of clips depicting the contemporaneous Ethiopian famine during the London event, which was introduced by English musician David Bowie.

The Cars resisted the urge to use automotive imagery in their songs; "Drive" is a rare instance where they did.

The video was directed by a 23-year-old Timothy Hutton, who had won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the movie Ordinary People. Hutton aspired to direct, so when Ric Ocasek of The Cars suggested he do it, Hutton jumped at the chance.

Hutton cast the Czechoslovakian model Paulina Porizkova as the female lead in the clip. Auditioning for the role was the first time she met Ocasek, whom she married in 1989.

After the death of Princess Diana, the UK radio station XFM banned certain songs that might upset people. Their list of barred songs included "Drive."

Here are the 3 versions I picked for you;

• Deftones - "Drive" 

• Sixx:A.M. - "Drive"

• Aimee Mann - "Drive"

Now the floor is yours, go ahead and make your comments (here, Instagram, Facebook wherever you feel like...).

nb. Please note that I intentionally do not include the original versions of the songs as it would be a little unfair to the artists covering the songs, and I am sure that sometimes you will be surprised to see that the songs you thought were the originals are just covers.