Pull Up to the Bumper

Over the years, "Pull Up to the Bumper" has been remixed several times. The original 12-inch single featured the unedited album master recording as an extended mix of 6m45s. There also appears to be an untitled long album version lasting 5m48s which can be found on the US Rebound Records/Polygram Records World of Dance: The 80's compilation CD. An extended dub version lasting 7m17s also known as "Remixed Version" was included as the B-side on the 12-inch release of Jones' "Walking in the Rain"; this version can be found on the Universal Music compilation CD 12"/80s. The "Walking in the Rain" 7" single also had an alternate dub mix as the B-side, called "Peanut Butter" and credited to the Compass Point All Stars. The full mix of "Peanut Butter" lasting 7m02s as well as "Pull Up to the Bumper"'s "Party Version" lasting 5m01s can be found on the US Hip-O Records/Universal Music In Good Company CD by Sly & Robbie.

In 1985, the track was remixed and re-released to promote the Island Life compilation, and was released in two different 12-inch single mixes, one an extended mix with additional keyboard overdubs and remix by Paul "Groucho" Smykle, which can be found on both the Rodeo Media 2011 Dance Classics - Pop Edition Vol. 4 2CD Compilation and the very rare EVA Records 1986 Now Dance compilation CD. The other, an eight-minute megamix entitled "Musclemix", which included excerpts from tracks like "Warm Leatherette", "Walking in the Rain", "Use Me", "Love Is the Drug" and "Slave to the Rhythm", remains unreleased on CD.

Terry Nelson from Albumism commented in his review of Nightclubbing, "Many critics loved the playful double entendre, but if you were listening carefully, you could tell that it was a pretty blunt statement. She was not pulling any punches. It was a song that could've been ripped out of the pages of the Penthouse forum set to an infectious, funky beat: "Pull up to my bumper baby / In your long black limousine / Pull up to my bumper baby / And drive it in between"."^[11] The Daily Vault's Mark Millan named it an "instant Jones classic", and noted that the singer "peppered the lyric with a swell of sexual innuendos".^[12] Music critic and writer Glenn O'Brien named "Pull Up to the Bumper" "Grace's first car radio hit".^[13]

Upon its release, the song spent seven weeks at number two on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart,^[14] as well as becoming a Top 5 single on the Billboard R&B chart. The original 1981 release peaked at number 53 on the UK Singles Chart. When it was re-released in 1985, then with the 1977 recording of "La Vie en rose" as the B-side, it reached number 12 on the UK singles chart in early 1986.^[15] The song then finally charted in Ireland and West Germany, and became the singer's best-seller.^[16]

The song was ranked at number eight among the top 10 "Tracks of the Year" for 1981 by NME.^[17] In 2004, Q magazine featured it in their list of "The 1010 Songs You Must Own". In 2005, Blender ranked it number 88 in their list of "Greatest Songs Since You Were Born".^[18] In 2011, The Guardian's Richard Vine ranked the release of "Pull Up to the Bumper" as one of 50 key events in the history of dance music, proclaiming it "one of those rare records that manages to replicate the sensation of actually being in a club."^[19] Pitchfork Media featured it in their list of "50 Songs That Define the Last 50 Years of LGBTQ+ Pride" in 2018.^[4] Same year, Time Out ranked it number 41 in their "The 50 Best '80s Songs" list.^[20]

Spin ranked it as one of "The 30 Best Disco Songs That Every Millennial Should Know" in 2019.^[21] Slant Magazine placed "Pull Up to the Bumper" at number 64 in their list of "The 100 Best Dance Songs of All Time" in 2020.^[22] Rolling Stone ranked it number 84 in their list of "200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time" in 2022.^[23] In October 2023, Billboard magazine ranked it number 65 in their list of "The 100 Best Pop Songs Never to Hit the Hot 100", writing that "Grace Jones' shimmering and highly euphemistic post-disco clarion call made for arguably her most irresistible pop single."^[24] In 2025, they ranked it numbers 82 and 46 in their lists of "The 100 Best Dance Songs of All Time" and "The 100 Greatest LGBTQ+ Anthems of All Time".^[25][26]

(*) indicates the list is unordered.

The accompanying music video for "Pull Up to the Bumper" is a combination of live footage of Jones performing the song on her A One Man Show merged and edited alongside excerpts from Godfrey Reggio's 1982 experimental documentary film Koyaanisqatsi. The video uses the edited studio version of the song and its opening section includes the drum intro from Jones' version of the song "Nightclubbing".^[29]

Another music video for the song was produced, also using the same live footage, cut and re-edited, but this time retaining the original concert soundtrack. The video ends with Jones jumping from the stage into the audience.^[30]

• Grace Jones – vocals, backing vocals
• Sly Dunbar – drums, syndrums
• Robbie Shakespeare – bass guitar
• Barry Reynolds – guitar
• Mikey Chung – guitar
• Wally Badarou – keyboards
• Uziah Thompson – percussion