Musical Poll: The Scenic Route

I’m safely back, well ahead of the Snowpocalypse!!! I’m kind of out of it, though– yesterday was a very long day, and I find air travel draining at the best of times– so in lieu of substantive blogging, I offer you this thematically appropriate poll:

(Strictly speaking, two of those are the same song, but the end results are different enough to list them separately.)

25 comments

  1. “Wherever I may roam,” Metallica. On long drives, I usually can’t do without the waker-upper or awake-keeper of the heavy bass thrum. Besides, the song encapsulates the planning part of our trips.

  6. I second Chris’s vote for 500 Miles. And add a close second for Eight More Miles (written by Kevin Welch and Keiran Kane, bluegrass not 50 cent).

  7. “Route 66” by lots of people

    I also like Eric Lund’s (#4) suggestion of “Truckin'”

    It occurs to me that there are two categories of travel songs: those about going somewhere, and those about going home.

  8. I will go off the beaten path and name “Take The Long Way” by Po’ Girl, which is an acoustic folky song with a rap (and not nearly as corny as that makes it sound).

  9. How about one of the all time great country trucker songs, Seven Days on the Road, and I’m Gonna Make It Home Tonight?

  10. I agree with Metallica and the Dead, but would also add “Let It Roll” and “Those Feat’ll Steer Ya Wrong Sometimes” by Little Feat.

  12. radar love.

    from the radar love wikipedia page:

    “Greatest Driving Song

    ‘Radar Love’ was voted as the 2nd greatest driving song on the 6th series of Top Gear, losing out to Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now”. By contrast, on the About.com web site, Bill Lamb ranks it as #1 on a list of top 10 driving songs[1] because of its first verse, chorus, and unforgettable bassline.”

  14. “On the Road Again”… and that country song is “Six Days on the Road”… not Seven… in a similar vein, “Hold Whatcha Got”

  16. “Turn the Page” by Bob Seger.

    An excerpt:

    But your thoughts will soon be wandering, the way they always do, / When you’re riding sixteen hours and there’s nothing much to do, / And you don’t feel much like riding, you just wish the trip was through.

    Here I am, / On the road again. / There I am, / Up on the stage. / Here I go, / Playing star again. / There I go, / Turn the page.

    Doesn’t that describe your trip?

    I think of the “Well you walk into a restaurant, strung out from the road.” line every time I pull into a Cracker Barrel or McD’s on the interstate.

  18. radar love is a great driving song – but ‘are you recieving me’ on the same album is better.

    another great driving song in Wayne Shorter = ‘drinking and driving’

  19. Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony is a bit less “general travel” than the others detailed here, but brilliant nonetheless.

  21. Agreed with “Take the Long Way Home” by Supertramp. Then there’s “20,000 Pounds of Bananas” by Harry Chapin, about a tractor-trailer load of bananas that spill when the truck’s brakes fail coming into Scranton, Pennsylvania. It’s always helpful to keep disaster in mind while driving, especially on the horrible Pennsylvania Turnpike which has no shoulder. Stupid road.

    Mostly for myself I like to rock out when I drive, so I play either of Green Day’s last 2 albums, 21CB or AI, at high volume. Keeps we awake.

  22. Then there’s “20,000 Pounds of Bananas” by Harry Chapin

    It’s actually 30,000 pounds, but yes, that’s a good road tune as well. I have the live version, and I often play that tape when I’m on a road trip. Yes, my car is so old that it has a cassette deck.

  24. I’m going for the (kinda) obscure myself:

    “Run for Home” by Lindisfarne.

    Of course, no one has mentioned Jackson Browne’s classic “Runnin on Empty”…

    Although “Radar Love” & Supertramp are up there too.

  25. In honor of snowpocalypse, how about “Plastic Jesus” – “I don’t care if it rains or freezes…”

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