Parts & Accessories
Jason Rule
Sat Mar 30 2013 15:04:12 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
This morning’s CarTune is all about the Motor City. Here’s Detroit’s own Aretha Franklin with her smash 1985 music video that features the city: “Freeway of Love.”
The first single spun from the platinum album, Who’s Zoomin’ Who, “Freeway of Love” spent five weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot R&B chart and earned Aretha her 12th Grammy Award. The song was co-written (with Jeffrey Cohen) and produced by Narada Michael Walden, who constructed much of the album at Detroit’s famed United Sound.
Going for an all-Detroit theme, star video director Brian Grant originally arranged to shoot the performance scenes for “Freeway” on the assembly line at Ford’s Dearborn Assembly Plant, but Aretha abruptly cancelled that plan. Flashing her official diva badge, she had the shoot moved to Detroit’s hot nightclub at the time, Doug’s Body Shop on Woodward near 9 Mile. In the classic bandstand scenes, see how many personalities you can spot: There’s Narada on drums, and of course the big man himself, Clarence Clemons, on saxophone.
Though they were never meant to, Grant’s exteriors for the video, shot all around the city, seem to mesh perfectly with the nightclub scenes. You’ll see a number of Motor City landmarks: the original General Motors Building, the giant Uniroyal tire, the Ambassador Bridge to Canada, and look—there’s the old Goodyear sign on the Chrysler Freeway that kept a running tally of the city’s annual car production. Great song, entertaining video. Have a look.