"Freeway of Love" is a song by American singer Aretha Franklin. It was written by Jeffrey Cohen and Narada Michael Walden and produced by the latter for Franklin's thirtieth studio album ''

Who's Zoomin' Who? ''Who's Zoomin' Who?'' is the thirtieth studio album by American singer Aretha Franklin, released on July 9, 1985, by Arista Records. A departure from the Luther Vandross-produced adult contemporary sound of her previous albums '' Jump to It'' ...

'' (1985). The song features a notable contribution from

Clarence Clemons Clarence Anicholas Clemons Jr. (January 11, 1942 – June 18, 2011), also known as The Big Man, was an American musician and actor. From 1972 until his death in 2011, he was the saxophonist for The E Street Band. Clemons released several s ...

, the saxophonist from Bruce Springsteen’'s

E Street Band The E Street Band is an American rock band, and has been musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. For the bulk of Springsteen's recording and performing caree ...

. Sylvester,

Martha Wash Martha Elaine Wash (born December 28, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, and producer. Known for her distinctive and powerful voice, Wash first achieved fame as half of the Two Tons O' Fun, who sang backing vocals for the disco si ...

, and

Jeanie Tracy Jeanie Tracy is an American singer-songwriter, actress, and record producer. She rose to fame in the late 1970s as a background singer of Sylvester, an American disco singer. Her first album, '' Me and You'' (1982), featured post-disco hits "I'm ...

provided backup vocals on "Freeway of Love". Released as the album's lead single on June 5, 1985, by Arista Records, the song became Franklin's highest-charting single in twelve years. It reached number three on the '' Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, while topping the

Hot Black Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

chart for five weeks from July 27, to August 24, 1985 (her milestone twentieth number-one hit on the chart). In a remixed "rock" version, the song also topped the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. The accompanying promotional music video was filmed entirely in the

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

area, and became one of the most popular videos of the year. "Freeway of Love" earned Franklin her 12th

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

for

Best Female R&B Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance (previously called Best Rhythm and Blues Solo Vocal Performance, Female) was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards ...

. Owing to the pink Cadillac appearing on the cover art and several times in the lyrics, more than 100 pink Cadillacs accompanied Franklin in her

funeral procession A funeral procession is a procession, usually in motor vehicles or by foot, from a funeral home or place of worship to the cemetery or crematorium. In earlier times the deceased was typically carried by male family members on a bier or in a cof ...

in August 2018.

Music video

The video was filmed primarily in black and white. It was filmed at Club Tattoo on Woodbridge Avenue (which Franklin co-owned) and is mostly a performance video. Franklin's "Another Night" music video was also filmed there. "Freeway of Love" is interspersed with videos of automobiles being manufactured in the early 1970s ( Ford Mustang) and a then-current

Cadillac Cimarron The Cadillac Cimarron is an entry-level luxury car manufactured and marketed by the Cadillac division of General Motors for model years 1982–1988 over a single generation, with a mild facelift in 1985. The first post-war compact car offered ...

, as well as dancers in and around cars, sky shots of freeways, the Detroit skyline, and other ephemeral visuals. Portions of the "Freeway of Love" video were also filmed at Doug's Body Shop, located at 22061 Woodward Avenue, in

Ferndale, Michigan Ferndale is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It forms part of the Detroit metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 19,190. Ferndale is well known in the Detroit area for its LGBT population and prog ...

is featured in the video, and performs saxophone on the song.. Although the video is set to the original version of the song, the tempo of the song is noticeably faster in the video.

Track listing

;US 7" Single

Personnel

* Aretha Franklin: lead vocals * Narada Michael Walden: drums and percussion * Randy "The King" Jackson: synth bass * Walter "Baby Love" Afanasieff: keyboards * Preston "Tiger Head" Glass: keyboards and keyboard vibes, backing vocals * Corrado Rustici: guitar * Greg "Gigi" Gonaway:

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

* The Santana Rhythm Section: percussion *

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

, guest appearance (courtesy of Columbia Records) * Karen "Kitty Beethoven" Brewington,

Carolyn Franklin Carolyn Ann Franklin (May 13, 1944 – April 25, 1988) was an American singer-songwriter. Besides her own musical success, Franklin was best known as the daughter of prominent Detroit preacher and civil rights activist C. L. Franklin and the youn ...

, Jim Gilstrap, Sylvester,

Vicki Randle Vicki Randle (born December 11, 1954)Hillgirlz, the les ...

, Laundon Von Hendricks: backing vocals * Mingo Lewis: congas, percussion

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Cover versions

*In 1986, "Weird Al" Yankovic covered the song as part of his polka medley " Polka Party!". *The song was covered in 2009 by house music/dance singer

Pepper Mashay Jean McClain (born March 8, 1953), better known as Pepper Mashay, is an American soul, house and dance music singer-songwriter who has had success as a touring and studio performer. Early life McClain grew up in Muncie, Indiana. Growing up, h ...

. *A version by jazz musician

Lea DeLaria Lea DeLaria (born May 23, 1958) is an American comedian, actress, and jazz singer. DeLaria is credited with being the first openly gay comic to appear on American television with her 1993 appearance on ''The Arsenio Hall Show''. She is best kno ...

appears in and on the soundtrack of the 2017

Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...

movie ''

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''.

References

1985 singles 1985 songs Aretha Franklin songs Arista Records singles Black-and-white music videos Cadillac Dance-pop songs Synth-pop songs Songs written by Narada Michael Walden Songs written by Jeffrey E. Cohen {{1980s-R&B-song-stub