Music and driving. Like Mork and Mindy, Sodom and Gomorrah, or lamb and tuna fish, they are perfect partners. I’ve already talked about some of my personal favorite driving songs here, but I’m busy preparing for two upcoming road trips, so it’s been on my mind lately. I won’t be around for a few days (off on an aforementioned road trip), so I thought I’d get a conversation going about some of our personal favorite traveling songs, kicking it off with my own list of 10 lesser-known songs that always make my right foot feel a bit heavier.
Against Me! – “We Did It All For Don”
I love the quiver of Tom Gable’s voice on this song, along with it’s slow building intensity. The promise and pure joy of leaving everything you know behind, accompanied by good friends, can be heard in both the lyrics and unbridled hopefulness of his voice. All you need is open road, a beat up van (I’m guessing they named it “Armageddon” because it’s a piece of shit, like the Michael Bay movie), our friends, and a song to sing. “Cuz six cylinders will take us farther than any President.”
The Replacements – “Can’t Hardly Wait” (Tim version)
There are endless versions of this song, (one of which I plan on going into sometime in the not-too-distant future) but for the car, this is my personal choice. The version that’s most famous was released 2 years later, but I like the raw immediacy recorded during the sessions for their influential album Tim. I love how messy the anticipation and optimism of this song are, and the bare-bones jitteriness makes you feel like he’s literally jumping out of his skin, unable to wait to see what’s over that horizon.
Alkaline Trio – “San Francisco”
Traveling songs are, usually, about one of two things: Where you’re going to or what you’ve leaving behind. This one of my favorite songs about the latter. I was deep into the Trio in my late high school years, and their seminal album Goddamnit was on constant rotation in my car. The earnest vocals and bitter sing-along chorus made this a stand-out of that album. I often refer to our great city as “Sour Home Chicago.”
Traffic – “Heaven is in Your Mind”
This may be my favorite songs from the psychedelic rock era. Granted, you’re going on a more literal “trip” than they were, but this song still takes me to new places, creating a sonic space with so little – some piano, guitar and bass, along with a deceptively simple (yet awesome) drum line, some spacey harmonies and studio trickery. Because maybe heaven is in our minds, man. Or just a little further on down the road.
Wilco – “Monday”
Sometimes, the best thing to do is run from your mistakes. Jeff Tweedy carries an air of acidic elation throughout this song, with the whole band clearly having a blast. I also love the percussive clapping at the end, which just disintegrates into a smattering of almost sarcastic applause.
The Helio Sequence – “Hallelujah”
This song creates that repetitive, almost meditative sensation of lonesome (in the best way) driving, when your companion has dozed off and you feel like the only person left on Earth, driving the endless road into oblivion. The cascading drum beat, the hints of electronica, the ethereal backup vocals, all create a unique alchemy that replicates that feeling perfectly.
The Clash – “Police On My Back”
This is probably the most dangerous song on this list. Kicking things off with a guitar replicating a police siren, this song goes from 0-90 in no time flat. This song makes me drive way too fast (“But, officer, The Clash was on!”), and I also tend to dance involuntarily, even while seated. (I’m doing it right now! Honest to God.) And they make running from the police sound like way too much fun. I will never let my children listen to this. That rock and roll music, poisoning the minds of our impressionable youth…
The Kinks – “This Time Tomorrow”
Yeah, just like the Alkaline Trio song, it’s about airplanes and not driving, but it’s about travel, and leaving something behind for something new. I will argue to my dying day that The Kinks are the most underrated rock band of all time. I love how this songs captures the feeling that, no matter how painful growth and transformation can be, it’s still essential and magical, and the mystery of life is what makes it worth living. “I don’t know where I’m going. I don’t want to see.”
Go listen to some Kinks, kids. You won’t regret it.
Lucero – “All These Love Songs”
Another song about what you’re leaving, but more of a kiss-off song than previous ones. I’m a big proponent of Lucero. If Drive-By Truckers are the Beatles of modern alt-country/southern rock, then Lucero is the Rolling Stones – darker, less polished, with more of an edge. The drums and tumbling guitar lines sound like tires rolling over pavement, leaving everything that’s hurt and disappointed you as far away as possible.
The Gaslight Anthem – “High Lonesome”
Another song by these guys was posted earlier as a Song of the Week, and while that whole album is great for a drive, this song in particular is my favorite. Its incessant beat, jaunty guitars, and Springsteen-esque vocals, infused with equal parts weariness and youthful vigor, shade in this song about reinventing ourselves and starting anew. And isn’t that really the reason that people uproot and hit the road?
So those are my favorites. What songs send you off, sailing into the great unknown?
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Evan Mather lives just outside of Chicago and is a full-time student with hopes to eventually earn his Masters in Library Science. He spends his limited free time with his wife and cats, subjecting them to his cinematic, musical, literary and culinary interests. Sometimes this is a good thing, and sometimes it is not.
Nice list, Evan. It’s your co-sponsor, by the way.
I’m not sure if all of these are songs that make me want to go heavy on the gas, but I do consider them to be great road songs… Here are some that come to mind: The Snake The Cross The Crown’s “Gypsy Melodies,” John Martyn’s “Over the Hill,” Frightened Rabbit’s “The Modern Leper,” Dawes’ “That Western Skyline,” Cass McCombs’ “Harmonia,” Shipwreck’s “House of Cards,” Iron & Wine’s “Sunset Soon Forgotten,” Kings of Leon’s “Knocked Up” (or “Arizona”), and Phoenix’s “Love Like a Sunset II” (ironically, for those early morning drives).
Enjoy your roadtrips.