Sleeping in My Car

Composition and style

"Sleeping in My Car" was the final song the band recorded for Crash! Boom! Bang!, and was written by Per Gessle. In the liner notes of their 1995 greatest hits compilation Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus!, Gessle described how, on listening to the first playback of the album just before Christmas 1993, the duo realised that it was "missing something. It all sounded so... perfectly grown up." He elaborated: "We had worked for a year, much too long, endless hours of studio time... I mean, I loved it but there was too little P-O-P. Went straight home, really pissed off and came up with this neanderthal-riff and wrote it in an hour."

According to Ultimate Guitar, the track is an uptempo pop rock song, with a moderately fast tempo of 135 beats per minute. The song contains elements of pop punk, and its verse is composed of an F♯m–E–F♯m–D–F♯m–E–C♯–D sequence, while the chorus consists of a sequence of F♯–C♯–D♯m–B–F♯–C♯–B–C♯. The first two lines of the bridge are made up almost entirely of slash chords, consisting of two repetitions of a F#–C#/F–B/D#–F#/C# sequence. Marie Fredriksson's vocal range in the song spans over three octaves, from a bass note of F♯3 in the first verse to a C♯5 in the final chorus.

When Roxette performed in the Workers Indoor Arena in Beijing, China in 1995 during the "Crash! Boom! Bang! Tour", Chinese government officials demanded that the band alter the lyrics of this song. "We agreed, but didn't change them in the end," said Gessle. Finnish melodic death metal band Children of Bodom included a cover of "Sleeping in My Car" as a bonus track on their 2013 album Halo of Blood.

Commercial performance

The song was an immediate commercial success throughout Europe, and become their second number one single in their native Sweden, where it debuted at number one. It spent a total of three weeks on top of the Swedish Singles Chart. The song peaked at number two in Denmark and Finland—held off the top spot in both countries by Dr. Alban's "Look Who's Talking!". The song peaked in the top ten of numerous other national record charts, including Austria, Belgium, Norway and Switzerland. It also peaked at number seven on Billboard's European Hot 100 Singles. The song was also a hit in Germany, where it peaked at number eleven for two non-consecutive weeks, and spent a total of four months on the German Singles Chart.

"Sleeping in My Car" became the duo's final chart success in Australia and New Zealand, peaking within the top twenty in both territories. The duo would have only one further single reach the top fifty in both countries: "Run to You" (No. 49) and "Crash! Boom! Bang!" (No. 50), respectively. It was also the final Roxette song to appear on the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at number fifty. Conversely, the song was a major commercial success in Canada, peaking at number two on RPM's Top Singles Sales Chart. Likewise, the song peaked at number three on The Record's concurrent singles chart—which incorporated airplay into its methodology.

Formats and track listings

All songs written by Per Gessle.

1. "Sleeping in My Car" – 3:33
2. "The Look" (Unplugged Version) – 5:11

1. "Sleeping in My Car" – 3:33
2. "The Look" (Unplugged Version) – 5:11
3. "Sleeping in My Car" (The Stockholm Demo Version) – 3:13

1. "Sleeping in My Car" – 3:33
2. "The Look" (Unplugged Version) – 5:11
3. "Sleeping in My Car" (The Stockholm Demo Version) – 3:13
4. "Almost Unreal" – 3:59

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus!.