About The Song
“I Drove All Night” is a song written and composed by American songwriters Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly and originally intended for Roy Orbison. Orbison recorded the song in 1987, the year before his death, but his version was not released until 1992. Cyndi Lauper recorded the song and released it as a single for her A Night to Remember album. Her version became a top 10 hit on both sides of the Atlantic in 1989 and was also her final top 40 hit on the American pop charts. Lauper still regularly performs the song in her live concerts. The song has also been covered by Canadian singer Celine Dion, whose version topped the Canadian Singles Chart and reached number 7 on the US Adult Contemporary chart in 2003.
“I Drove All Night” was recorded by American singer and songwriter Cyndi Lauper for her third solo album, A Night to Remember (1989). Lauper said she wanted to do it because she liked the idea “of a woman driving, of a woman in control.” The song was a top 10 pop hit in the United States—and was her 8th and last US top 10 single to date, peaking at number six on the Billboard Hot 100, and also a hit in other countries. It received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. The music video for “I Drove All Night”, directed by Lauper and Scott Kalvert, features the opening lines from the song “Kindred Spirit”, shots of an antique car, Lauper’s characteristically manic dancing, and movie film projected onto Lauper’s naked body.
Billboard reviewer described the music of this work as “yearning crystalline pop/rock” and found Lauper’s vocal mature. Jerry Smith, reviewer of British music newspaper Music Week, called Lauper “American with good ear”, praised her “assured and dramatic display”, expressing an assurance that this “passionate ballad” is “destined to return her to the charts once more”. Tim Nicholson of Record Mirror described the song as being “a punchy stab at power-driven west coast rock”.
Video
Lyrics
I had to escape
The city was sticky and cruel
Maybe I should have called you first
But I was dying to get to you
I was dreaming while I drove
The long straight road ahead, uh uh yeah
Could taste your sweet kisses
Your arms open wide
This fever for you
Is just burning me up inside
I drove all night to get to you
Is that alright?
I drove all night, crept in your room
Woke you from your sleep
To make love to you
Is that alright? I drove all night
What in this world
Keeps us from falling apart?
No matter where I go, I hear
The beating of our one heart
I think about you
When the night is cold and dark, uh uh yeah
No one can move me
The way that you do
Nothing erases this feeling
Between me and you
I drove all night to get to you
Is that alright?
I drove all night, crept in your room
Woke you from your sleep
To make love to you
Is that alright? I drove all night
I taste your sweet kisses
Your arms open wide
This fever for you
Is just burning me up inside
I drove all night to get to you
Is that alright?
I drove all night, crept in your room
Is that alright? I drove all night