Cars.com Staff Dreams Karaoke Matchups

CARS.COM — CBS late-night host James Corden has made a cottage industry out of his “Carpool Karaoke” bits, where he gets celebrities to sing along “live” with him to some of their favorite, or at least best known, songs. Now, Apple Music has announced a weekly series to appear on iTunes, where celebrities, sometimes in unusual pairings, sing together while in a car.

That got us thinking: Which singer would we like to sing along with, to what song, and in which car? Some of our respondents suspended time itself and chose folks who are no longer with us. Below are their responses.

Detroit Bureau Chief Aaron Bragman: “Two things I’ve always been a big fan of:  Frank Sinatra and Mercedes-Benz convertibles. Frank himself co-starred in “High Society,” where Grace Kelly drove him around in a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 190SL. I can totally see myself cruising the Las Vegas Strip or the streets of Palm Springs in the latest top Teutonic drop, the 2017 Mercedes-Maybach S600 cabriolet, with Frank in the passenger seat, the two of us crooning about how she just won’t go to Harlem in Lincolns or Fords. And with a Benz like this, why should she?”

News Editor Matt Schmitz and D.C. Bureau Chief Fred Meier had much the same idea: For Matt, it was singing with Prince to “Little Red Corvette” in a topless ‘Vette. Fred was way more specific: “I’d want to sing with Prince, the real deal, before it was too late, and not one of those creepy posthumous CGI duets. We’d sing ‘Little Red Corvette’ because the lyrics are as sexy as the car. But we wouldn’t do it in a retro ride (certainly not the C4 Corvette that arrived the same year as the song), but in a Torch Red C7 Corvette Z06 because it is, in Prince’s words, ‘a little red love machine’ with a body ‘that oughta be in jail.'”

Assistant Managing Editor Jennifer Geiger took a more family-friendly twist: She (and her three kids) would join Idina Menzel to sing “Let It Go” from the “Frozen” soundtrack, in a Toyota Sienna in the very frosty shade of Sky Blue Pearl.

Senior Editor Kelsey Mays went all mushy on us: “I’d karaoke with my wife to Paul McCartney’s “Maybe I’m Amazed” in a Chevrolet Corvette. It’s still one of her favorite cars to ride in — I don’t mind it, either — and that was the song we danced to at our wedding.”

Copy Editor Jen Burklow: “I would carpool karaoke to Bruce Springsteen, of course, and “Pink Cadillac” and “Cadillac Ranch” come immediately to mind. Karaoke should be fun, and what would be more fun than singing along to these songs with friends while cruising in an old Cadillac?”

Senior Editor Mike Hanley turned the idea on its head a little bit: He’d want to grab Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon for a cruise down Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, singing War’s “Low Rider” in a Mint 1969 Chevrolet Impala sport coupe. Seems pretty cool to us.

And L.A. Bureau Chief Brian Wong went all Beverly Hills on us: “I’d karaoke with Celine Dion, because I feel like the really good ‘Carpool Karaoke’ episodes have two things in common: a well-known catalog and a really big, natural voice. This would also mean I don’t have to take a trip out to Vegas to see her. We’d sing ‘That’s the Way It Is.’ I don’t see Celine riding in anything cheap. I’m thinking a Bentley Bentayga or a Maserati Levante, something like that.”

Who would you want to sing along with, to which song, in what car, truck or SUV? Tell us in the comments section below; be original!