Pink Cadillac (song)
"Pink Cadillac" is a song by Bruce Springsteen released as the non-album B-side of "Dancing in the Dark" in 1984. The song received moderate airplay on album-oriented rock radio, appearing on the Billboard Top Tracks chart for 14 weeks, peaking at number 27. The song was also a prominent concert number during Springsteen's 1984-85 Born in the U.S.A. Tour.
Like Prince's "Little Red Corvette", "Pink Cadillac" follows the tradition of the Wilson Pickett R&B classic "Mustang Sally" in using automobile travel as a metaphor for sexual activity, particularly as sung by Springsteen as the lyric: "I love you for your pink Cadillac" was originally a veiled pudendal reference. Springsteen, in fact, vetoed the first attempt by a female singer to release a version of "Pink Cadillac", that being Bette Midler in 1983. However, "Pink Cadillac" had its highest profile incarnation via an R&B interpretation by Natalie Cole, which became a top-ten single in 1988.
Springsteen originally wrote "Pink Cadillac" as "Love Is a Dangerous Thing" in December 1981; this version was lyrically distinct from the eventual "Pink Cadillac" except for the line "Eve tempted Adam with an apple", which Springsteen decided to make the basis for a more lighthearted lyric. The first lyrics Springsteen wrote for "Pink Cadillac" were: "They say Eve tempted Adam with an apple but man I ain't going for that/ I know it was her pink Cadillac". The auto imagery was inspired by Elvis Presley's 1954 rendition of "Baby Let's Play House" in which Presley replaced the original lyric: "You may get religion" with: "You may have a pink Cadillac", a reference to the custom painted Cadillac that was then Presley's touring vehicle.
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