Rose Royce – Car Wash

“Car Wash” – Single by Rose Royce from the album Car Wash: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Released September 1976.
Songwriter: Norman Whitfield
Producer: Norman Whitfield

Written by Norman Whitfield, who also produced the track, “Car Wash” was the theme song for the identically-titled 1976 film, a comedy which featured – among others – George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Franklyn Ajaye, Bill Duke, Ivan Dixon, Antonio Fargas, Lorraine Gary, and Professor Irwin Corey. Whitfield actually penned the entire soundtrack for the film, doing so using only the plot synopsis that he’d been provided, as the screenplay was still being written at the time. Thankfully, Whitfield found sufficient inspiration within that synopsis, and the resulting songs included more than just the one hit single, too: “I Wanna Get Next to You” hit #10 on the Hot 100, and “I’m Going Down” hit the same position on the R&B Singles chart.

As for “Car Wash” itself, the song wasn’t just a #1 hit, it was a massive seller, with two million copies of the single flying off of record store shelves. In addition, the Car Wash soundtrack ended up taking home the Grammy for Best Score / Soundtrack Album.

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Rose Royce - Car Wash

Rose Royce - Car Wash (1976)03:17

Car Wash is a 1976 American comedy film released by Universal Pictures. Directed by Michael Schultz from a screenplay by Joel Schumacher, the film stars Franklyn Ajaye, Bill Duke, George Carlin, Irwin Corey, Ivan Dixon, Antonio Fargas, Jack Kehoe, Clarence Muse, Lorraine Gary, The Pointer Sisters, Richard Pryor, and Garrett Morris. Originally conceived as a musical, Car Wash is an episodic comedy about a day in the lives of a close-knit group of employees at a Los Angeles, California car wash (filmed at a Westlake car wash at the corner of Rampart Boulevard and 6th Street) and their boss, Leon “Mr. B” Barrow (Sully Boyar).

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