let a songwriter set the scene
At the intersection of prose and place, don't forget the songwriter. Is there any win-win quite like the combination of scenery and soundtrack? Sometimes, literally a soundtrack. Can you listen to Lindsey Buckingham's Holiday Road without thinking of Chevy Chase and the Griswold family's vacation? Does Steppenwolf's Born to be Wild conjure up anything but Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper astride their choppers? Every road trip begs a song... about the road, whether it's Willie Nelson's On the Road Again, David Dudley's Six Days on the Road, Sheryl Crow's Every Day is a Winding Road, Roger Miller's King of the Road, or Dierks Bentley's Free and Easy Down the Road I Go.
Choosing only 44 must-listen road trip tunes can be as grueling (and inspiring) as a thousand-mile haul, so there's only one rule: no repeat performers. Thus, for the Allman Brothers, Ramblin' Man bested Midnight Rider. Led Zeppelin's Over the Hills and Far Away won out over Going to California. As much as we love Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run... and Rosalita... and Darlington County... we simply had no choice but to give Thunder Road the nod. And Paul Simon's America and Graceland take a back seat to Homeward Bound, which is mesmerizing whether he's singing it solo, or with Art Garfunkel, or (click on the link) with George Harrison.
These travel classics run the gamut -- from Cat Stevens (On the Road to Find Out) to Keith Urban (Who Wouldn't Want to be Me), from Take Me Home, Country Roads (John Denver) to Life is a Highway (Tom Cochrane), from Eastbound and Down (Jerry Reed) to Up Around the Bend (Creedence Clearwater Revival), and from The Beatles (Two of Us) to The Eagles (Take it Easy) to The Muppets (Movin' Right Along).
Some of the songs are specific (Lynyrd Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama); others are decidedly not (Road to Nowhere by Talking Heads); and still others are somewhere in between (Johnny Cash's I've Been Everywhere). Some are slow and haunting (200 More Miles by The Cowboy Junkies and Wanted Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi), and some speed merrily along (Chuck Berry's No Particular Place to Go). With these tunes amid your travels, you can be Truckin' (Grateful Dead), Road Trippin' (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Rockin' Down the Highway (The Doobie Brothers), Goin' Up the Country (Canned Heat), and Running on Empty (Jackson Browne). You can answer the lyrics to one song (Fastball's The Way asks, "Where were they going without ever knowing the way?) with another (the Indigo Girls: Get Out the Map).
Every icon seems to have recorded an iconic road trip tune, whether it's Harry Belafonte's Gotta Travel On or Nat King Cole's Get Your Kicks (On Route 66), songs that were also covered by Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones. Then again, can you name the groups that gave us Free Ride (Edgar Winter Group) and Radar Love (Golden Earring)? And some of the best have been covered countless times. Tom Waits composed Long Way Home. Norah Jones sings it beautifully. Bob Seger's Turn the Page is unforgettable, but don't miss Metallica's version. Kris Kristofferson wrote Me and Bobby McGee, and Janis Joplin perfected it. But check out the covers by everyone from Pink to Dolly Parton to Jerry Lee Lewis.
This peripatetic playlist is a little bit country (Eddie Rabbitt's Driving My Life Away), a little bit rock and roll (Whitesnake's Here I Go Again), and a little bit of both (Elvis Presley's Promised Land). Oh, and a little bit punk, too (Roam by the B52s). So yes, go ahead and roam. Whatever your tastes, there's a song for your journey.
Click on any of the 44 links below to watch a performance that provides a sense of place.
Choosing only 44 must-listen road trip tunes can be as grueling (and inspiring) as a thousand-mile haul, so there's only one rule: no repeat performers. Thus, for the Allman Brothers, Ramblin' Man bested Midnight Rider. Led Zeppelin's Over the Hills and Far Away won out over Going to California. As much as we love Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run... and Rosalita... and Darlington County... we simply had no choice but to give Thunder Road the nod. And Paul Simon's America and Graceland take a back seat to Homeward Bound, which is mesmerizing whether he's singing it solo, or with Art Garfunkel, or (click on the link) with George Harrison.
These travel classics run the gamut -- from Cat Stevens (On the Road to Find Out) to Keith Urban (Who Wouldn't Want to be Me), from Take Me Home, Country Roads (John Denver) to Life is a Highway (Tom Cochrane), from Eastbound and Down (Jerry Reed) to Up Around the Bend (Creedence Clearwater Revival), and from The Beatles (Two of Us) to The Eagles (Take it Easy) to The Muppets (Movin' Right Along).
Some of the songs are specific (Lynyrd Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama); others are decidedly not (Road to Nowhere by Talking Heads); and still others are somewhere in between (Johnny Cash's I've Been Everywhere). Some are slow and haunting (200 More Miles by The Cowboy Junkies and Wanted Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi), and some speed merrily along (Chuck Berry's No Particular Place to Go). With these tunes amid your travels, you can be Truckin' (Grateful Dead), Road Trippin' (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Rockin' Down the Highway (The Doobie Brothers), Goin' Up the Country (Canned Heat), and Running on Empty (Jackson Browne). You can answer the lyrics to one song (Fastball's The Way asks, "Where were they going without ever knowing the way?) with another (the Indigo Girls: Get Out the Map).
Every icon seems to have recorded an iconic road trip tune, whether it's Harry Belafonte's Gotta Travel On or Nat King Cole's Get Your Kicks (On Route 66), songs that were also covered by Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones. Then again, can you name the groups that gave us Free Ride (Edgar Winter Group) and Radar Love (Golden Earring)? And some of the best have been covered countless times. Tom Waits composed Long Way Home. Norah Jones sings it beautifully. Bob Seger's Turn the Page is unforgettable, but don't miss Metallica's version. Kris Kristofferson wrote Me and Bobby McGee, and Janis Joplin perfected it. But check out the covers by everyone from Pink to Dolly Parton to Jerry Lee Lewis.
This peripatetic playlist is a little bit country (Eddie Rabbitt's Driving My Life Away), a little bit rock and roll (Whitesnake's Here I Go Again), and a little bit of both (Elvis Presley's Promised Land). Oh, and a little bit punk, too (Roam by the B52s). So yes, go ahead and roam. Whatever your tastes, there's a song for your journey.
Click on any of the 44 links below to watch a performance that provides a sense of place.
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