Songfacts®:

• This song, written by Rick Springfield, is the title track from the album of the same name. Springfield says that he wrote this song about his wife, Barbara Porter, whom he married in 1984. The two had two sons (Liam in 1985 and Joshua in 1989) and are still married to this day.
  
  This isn't the first time Springfield has written songs about his wife; in a Songfacts interview, he explained that the inspiration behind the 2004 album Shock/Denial/Anger/Acceptance was from having come very close to a divorce. However, the two worked things out and saved their marriage. Springfield reflects: "She's the best person I've ever known. And I'm lucky that she still has a tolerance to hang with me. Because it hasn't been easy, and I've been at times a real idiot, and a real, you know, male, and just not been my best self. And through her good graces, I'm still around."
  
  He goes on to talk more about "Venus In Overdrive": "It's about my wife, and about how all she brings is love. She doesn't bring any s--t. I mean, we go through it occasionally, but when you get down to it, that's what she brings home. So that's what the song's about – her. 25 years later, I figure if I'm still writing love songs about her, it can't be bad."
  
  Incidentally, she was the receptionist at Sound City studios where Springfield recorded his landmark 1981 album Working Class Dog. That's where they met.
• Along with his musical success, Rick Springfield is also a highly accomplished actor, with a resumé that would keep anybody bust even without a singing career. Among his many credits: bit parts on TV shows Wonder Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, and The Rockford Files, a recurring role on the TV soap opera The Young and the Restless, and his most famous role as Dr. Noah Drake on the TV soap opera General Hospital. Oh, and don't forget a starring role in the 1984 film Hard to Hold.