It's All I Can Do

"It's All I Can Do" is a new wave influenced pop rock song.[1] According to Brett Milano, writer of the Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology album notes "'It's All I Can Do' was an affecting, straight-ahead piece of romantic pop, give or take a line like 'When I was crazy, I thought you were great.'"[2] The track was described as "gentle" by AllMusic reviewer Greg Prato, while Hamish Champ, writer of The 100 Best-Selling Albums of the 70s called the song "laidback".[3]

The bass lines and the G major guitar riffs have a major rock feel, but the song is softened down with Benjamin Orr's vocals and Greg Hawkes keyboard and synth lines.

"It's All I Can Do" was released as the follow-up to the "Let's Go" single on September 25, 1979, backed with "Got a Lot on My Head" in the U.S. and Canada, and with "Candy-O" in Britain. Although the song did not reach the Top 20 standard of its predecessor, it reached number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100.[4] A third and final single from Candy-O, "Double Life", failed to chart.

"It's All I Can Do" has generally received positive reception from critics. Prato said that "'It's All I Can Do' ... deserved to be a hit," while Champ said the track (as well as its predecessor, "Let's Go,") "give ample evidence of the band's range."[3] William Ruhlmann, author of The All-Music Guide to Rock, said "'It's All I Can Do' hit as well [as 'Let's Go']", and in the Billboard review of Candy-O, the song was chosen as one of the "best cuts".[3] In a negative review, Tom Carson of Rolling Stone said, "'It's All I Can Do' calculatedly recycles the 'Just What I Needed' hook but to less-telling effect. It's simply cold."[3] Billboard Magazine felt "It's All I Can Do" was less "dynamic and catchy" than "Just What I Needed" and "Let's Go," describing it as a "rocker with a simple melody line and spare instrumentation."[5]

The B-side of "It's All I Can Do" is "Got a Lot on My Head", another track from Candy-O. In a review of Candy-O, AllMusic reviewer Greg Prato says the band "rocks out on 'Got a Lot on My Head' and 'Night Spots'".[6]

• "It's All I Can Do" was featured in the 1998 film The Wedding Singer, and included on the film's second soundtrack, titled Wedding Singer 2.[7]
• Electronic rock/new wave revival band the Bravery covered the song in 2005 as the B-side to their single "Fearless". Their cover was later included in Substitution Mass Confusion: A Tribute to The Cars, a 2005 multi-artist collaborative album distributed by Not Lame Recordings.[8]

• Benjamin Orr: Lead vocals, bass guitar
• Ric Ocasek: Rhythm guitar
• Elliot Easton: Lead guitar
• Greg Hawkes: Keyboard, synthesizer
• David Robinson: Drums

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics