Celebrating Forty-Three Years of Working at the “Car Wash”

January 29 marks the day when the song from the movie of the same name, "Car Wash" hit #1 on the pop singles chart, 43 years ago. The song was performed by American soul and R&B group, Rose Royce. Car Wash the soundtrack also yielded two other charting singles for Rose Royce, "I Wanna Get Next To You" and "I'm Going Down".

The soundtrack also garnered another hit song with the Pointer Sisters' "You Gotta Believe". The Pointer Sisters actually performed that song in the movie during their cameo appearance as Daddy Rich's(Richard Pryor)backing singers, The Wilson Sisters.

The film itself, Car Wash, practically screams "1970's"! Featuring a diverse array of then up-and-coming talent including, George Carlin, Franklyn Ajaye, Bill Duke(probably most famous for his many action-movie roles like Predator), Jack Kehoe(Serpico, The Untouchables, Midnight Run), and Saturday Night Live's Garrett Morris.

The movie also featured Ivan Dixon(perhaps best known for Hogan's Heroes), and early appearances by Danny Devito, Brooke Adams(Days of Heaven, The Dead Zone, Invasion of the Body Snatchers), Tim "Trancers" Thomerson, and Antonio Fargas("Huggy Bear" from TV's Starsky & Hutch).

The Car Wash soundtrack was produced by Motown's Norman Whitfield and ended up winning 1977's  Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album. Check out the movie if you never have just to see all the familiar faces that probably weren't so well-known at the time. If you would like to practice your clapping skills, you can revisit Rose Royce's #1 hit right here. Happy Anniversary!