Written and arranged by the ex-Motown producer Norman Whitfield,[1] the song was the group's first single and one of the most notable successes of the 1970s disco era.

The song was covered in 2004 by Christina Aguilera and Missy Elliott, who released their version as the single for the Shark Tale soundtrack.

Unable to develop a theme song for the film, inspiration finally struck Whitfield while watching a game of basketball, and he wrote his first draft of "Car Wash" on a paper bag from a fried chicken eatery.

It describes a fun and easy-going car washing business, where everything is "always cool/and the boss don't mind sometimes if you act a fool".

The Car Wash soundtrack album, entirely recorded by Rose Royce and Whitfield, spawned two more successful singles, "I Wanna Get Next to You" and "I'm Going Down" (covered in 1994 by Mary J. Blige).

So we couldn't take the exact samples, but we brought in all these live instruments to recreate kind of this old, old classic, soulful feel and sound".

63; however, it was a top-five and top-ten hit in the United Kingdom (#4), Australia (#2), Belgium (#2), Costa Rica (#6), New Zealand (#2), and several other international markets in which it was released.

5 on BMI's list of the Top 10 songs played at Major League sports events for the 2009–2010 season.