“I Drove All Night” by Cyndi Lauper

"I Drove All Night" was never meant for Cyndi Lauper. Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly wrote it with Roy Orbison in mind, and he cut it in 1987, the year before he died, but his take sat in the can until 1992. Lauper got there first, putting it on A Night to Remember and sending it out as a single in 1989, and she drives it home as if it had been written for her all along.

It went top 10 on both sides of the Atlantic, though it also turned out to be her last trip into the American pop top 40. She still plays it regularly in concert.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.