It's All I Can Do

For the Anne Murray song, see It's All I Can Do (Anne Murray song).

"It's All I Can Do"
Single by The Cars
from the album Candy-O
B-side	"Got a Lot on My Head" "Candy-O" (UK)
Released	September 25, 1979 (1979-09-25)
Format	7"
Genre	New wave
Length	3:45
Label	Elektra 46546
Writer(s)	Ric Ocasek
Producer(s)	Roy Thomas Baker
The Cars singles chronology
"Let's Go" (1979) "It's All I Can Do" (1979) "Double Life" (1979)
Candy-O track listing 11 tracks Side one "Let's Go" "Since I Held You" "It's All I Can Do" "Double Life" "Shoo Be Doo" "Candy-O" Side two "Night Spots" "You Can't Hold on Too Long" "Lust for Kicks" "Got a Lot on My Head" "Dangerous Type"

"It's All I Can Do" is a song by the American rock band The Cars. It is the third track from their 1979 album Candy-O. It was written by the band's leader and songwriter Ric Ocasek, and features bassist Benjamin Orr on vocals.

Sound and genre

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.'" 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".

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.

Release

"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. A third and final single from Candy-O, "Double Life", failed to chart.

Reception

"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." 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". 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."

B-side

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'".

Other appearances

• "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.
• 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.

Personnel

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

Chart performance

Weekly singles charts

Chart (1979)	Peak position
Canadian Singles Chart	17
US Billboard Hot 100	41

Year-end charts

Chart (1979)	Rank
Canada	131
U.S. (Joel Whitburn's Pop Annual)	239

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics