Roxette - Sleeping in My Car (1994)

1994 single by Roxette

"Sleeping in My Car" is a song by Swedish pop music duo Roxette, released on 7 March 1994 by EMI as the lead single from the duo's fifth studio album, Crash! Boom! Bang! (1994). The song was composed by Per Gessle in under an hour, and was the final song the band recorded for the album. It is a pop rock song containing elements drawn from pop punk. Marie Fredriksson's vocal range on the track spans over three octaves. The band performed the song at the inaugural 1994 MTV Europe Music Awards. The song was an immediate commercial success in numerous territories, including Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It became the duo's second number one single in their home country and peaked within the top 20 in 15 other territories. It also peaked at number seven on Billboards European Hot 100 Singles. In Canada, the song reached the top three on two different national charts. In contrast, it was the duo's final song to enter the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 50. Michael Geoghegan directed its music video.

"Sleeping in My Car" was the final song the band recorded for Crash! Boom! Bang!, and was written by Per Gessle. In the liner notes of their 1995 greatest hits compilation Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus!, Gessle described how, on listening to the first playback of the album just before Christmas 1993, the duo realised that it was "missing something. It all sounded so perfectly grown up." He elaborated: "We had worked for a year, much too long, endless hours of studio time I mean, I loved it but there was too little P O P. Went straight home, really pissed off and came up with this neanderthal riff and wrote it in an hour." According to Ultimate Guitar, the track is an uptempo pop rock song, with a moderately fast tempo of 135 beats per minute. The song contains elements of pop punk, and its verse is composed of an F♯m–E–F♯m–D–F♯m–E–C♯–D sequence, while the chorus consists of a sequence of F♯–C♯–D♯m–B–F♯–C♯–B–C♯. The first two lines of the bridge are made up almost entirely of slash chords, consisting of two repetitions of a F♯–C♯/E♯–B/D♯–F♯/C♯ sequence. Marie Fredriksson's vocal range in the song spans over three octaves, from a bass note of F♯3 in the first verse to a C♯5 in the final chorus. When Roxette performed in the Workers Indoor Arena in Beijing, China in 1995 during the "Crash! Boom! Bang! Tour", Chinese government officials demanded that the band alter the lyrics of this song. "We agreed, but didn't change them in the end," said Gessle.

Finnish melodic death metal band Children of Bodom included a cover of "Sleeping in My Car" as a bonus track on their 2013 album Halo of Blood.

AllMusic editor Bryan Buss wrote that with "their loose, jangly guitars", "Sleeping in My Car" is a "skillful pop/rock song", and noted further that it "might have been too pop for rock listeners and too rock for mid '90s pop fans." Larry Flick from Billboard felt that the popular act from Sweden ends a lengthy break from recording with "a breezy pop/rocker that is easily its best single since "It Must Have Been Love"." He added, "Crisp production is heavy on tightly woven electric/acoustic guitar swapping and thunderous drumming, while singer Marie Fredriksson proves her evolution into a pouty rock belter. First single from the forthcoming Crash! Boom! Bang! is a sunny li'l toe tapper that has already done well all over the world. A similar fate in the U. S. is likely." Troy J. Augusto from Cashbox commented, "Well now, Roxette, no stranger to No. 1 records, has returned, hoping to recapture its past glories with this light and airy pop gem, already a hit across Europe." He stated that the song "stays true to the duo’s hit filled past, mixing lightweight guitar lines, the sharpest pop production and Marie Fredriksson’s soaring vocals into a sure fire hit single." Swedish Expressen said that Fredriksson "has not sung so cocky" since their 1988 hit "Dressed for Success". Dave Sholin from the Gavin Report remarked that the duo "unleash some hot pop/rock" on the song. Another Swedish newspaper Göteborgsposten complimented it as a "typical Roxette song in good old pop tradition", with a chorus "that stick quickly". Chuck Campbell from Knoxville News Sentinel viewed it as "an obvious choice" as a single, "which rides a traditional rollicking Roxette sound and packs a powerful hook." In his weekly UK chart commentary, James Masterton wrote that it "may not be as instantly classic as past hits but is certain to hang around for a couple of weeks." A reviewer from People Magazine called it a "drive time throwaway", that "sport write them in your sleep hooks". Pete Stanton from Smash Hits gave the song two out of five, noting its explicit lyrics, and "screaming guitars and even screamier vocals". Another editor, Mark Sutherland, wrote, "And, despite the dodgiest lyrics in pop, they're rather good at it, especially on the storming single "Sleeping in My Car"."

The song was an immediate commercial success throughout Europe, and became their second number one single in their native Sweden, where it debuted at number one. It spent a total of three weeks on top of the Swedish Singles Chart.

The accompanying music video for "Sleeping in My Car" was filmed in a parking garage at night. It was directed by Irish filmmaker Michael Geoghegan. The video received heavy rotation on MTV Europe and was A listed on Germany's VIVA. Geoghegan would also be directing the video for the duo's next single, "Crash! Boom! Bang! ".

+Release dates and formats for "Sleeping in My Car"RegionDateFormat(s)Label(s)Ref. (Reference)Europe7 March 1994CDEMIJapan8 April 1994Mini CDUnited States2 June 1994Radio