Song #656: "Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car" by Billy Ocean

Date: Apr 9, 1988
Weeks: 2

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This song seems terribly miscalculated. I think the meaning is really supposed to be reflected by one of the later lyrics, "Get outta my mind, get into my life." That's what you say when you want to stop admiring someone from afar and pursue a real relationship with them.

Unfortunately, somewhere in the writing process the metaphor "Get outta my dreams, get into my car" came along. And the rest of the song was written around literalizing that metaphor as much as possible. Lyrics like "touch my bumper" and "lady driver" merge with car horn sounds and revving engines, and the result is a song that isn't serious enough to be meaningful, but doesn't quite reach the level of humorous novelty song, either. Also, what is meant by the line "get in the back seat, baby?" Is that still a metaphor, or have they abandoned all metaphorical pretensions and just tossed in a car reference for fun?

The overly bright horns and noisy percussion and synthesizer stings don't help much, either. This is a song locked into the sound of the late 80s, in a way that doesn't make much sense outside the context of 80s music. I don't care much for the female vocals, either. They seem unnecessary and designed to just complicate the sound. And then they can't even be consistent with their car metaphors, choosing to try something else with "Hey Cinderella, step in your shoe." You made the song about the car metaphor, you stick with it.

The whole "Touch my bumper [bumper]" moment is this song in a nutshell. I spent all my time listening to this song waiting for that line to repeat, because I just sort of dread how dumb that moment is, encapsulating everything that bugs me about this song.

My verdict: Don't like it. I really hope this song was written specifically for License To Drive, and that the car metaphor was written first. At least that's a commercial enterprise I can understand. Because if someone just thought the car metaphor was a good idea on an artistic level, that person was sorely mistaken.