“Sad Song” is a little-known Cars song released long after the band’s commercial peak in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It appeared on Move Like This in 2011—their first album in 24 years and, as it turned out, their last.
I was a Cars fan, but I had stopped following them closely by then. In fact, I didn’t realize they were recording together again in 2011, so I completely missed this song when it was released.
I finally heard it several years ago through Best Friend’s Girl, an excellent East Coast Cars tribute band that frequently includes it in its shows. The first time I heard them play it, I immediately wondered how a Cars song this good had escaped me.
“Sad Song” contains nearly everything that made the band instantly recognizable: the clipped guitar rhythm, bright synthesizers, handclaps, Ric Ocasek’s cool vocal delivery and a chorus that attaches itself to your memory after one listen. It resembles earlier songs such as “My Best Friend’s Girl” and “Let’s Go,” but after such a long absence, hearing those familiar ingredients in a new recording felt surprisingly welcome.
It isn’t among the Cars’ greatest songs—their first two albums set an almost impossible standard—but it deserved far more attention than it received. A good tribute band helped me discover that.