Hit the Road: 14 songs about driving

Certified hit “Born to Be Wild” by Steppenwolf got screen time in the film Easy Rider. Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

We dedicated the May/June 2023 issue of Hagerty Drivers Club magazine to the deep connections between music and cars, including several fun lists featuring your favorite car songs. Come back often or click the Music & Cars tag to stay up to date on these stories as they roll out online. You can also jam with our custom Music & Cars playlist on Spotify, available here.

Countless songs address the freedom of driving. Among thousands of candidates, we’ll start by nominating two seemingly disparate numbers, both of which illustrate a great through line of American song—the liberating spirit of adventure and exploration that hitting the highway represented. “See the U.S.A. In Your Chevrolet” was made famous by Dinah Shore in 1950, though the jingle—written by Leo Corday and Leon Carr—was originally sung for the TV show Inside U.S.A. with Chevrolet by Peter Lind Hayes and Mary Healy. Later covered by Pat Boone and even the cast of Glee, after decades of service as a recurring Chevrolet jingle, its luster has by now largely worn off. Conversely, the status of the once-obscure garage rock classic “Roadrunner”—by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers—continues its ascent to musical standard-dom, its popularity growing like the sprawling suburbia that its narrator simultaneously celebrates and seeks to escape.

And, of course, no discussion of the freedom that cars offer would be complete without “Born to Be Wild,” made famous by Steppenwolf and its appearance in the 1969 film Easy Rider, which is about two meaning-seeking, drug-dealing Californian rebels on an impromptu trip across the American Southwest and South on old Harley choppers. Amusingly, this all-American standard was written by a Canadian sessions musician, Mars Bonfire (real name Dennis Eugene McCrohan). He was broke and out of work and planted in Los Angeles when he penned the timeless anthem, a ditty that turned out—in the way these things do—to be just as useful for breathless corporate marketers as for nonconformists quitting their jobs and hitting the road.

Here are 14 more songs that celebrate the freedom of driving…

 

Bruce Springsteen
“THUNDER ROAD”

There were ghosts in the eyes of all the boys you sent away
They haunt this dusty beach road
In the skeleton frames of burned out Chevrolets

Somewhere in Maine, Stephen King is listening.

 

M.I.A.
“BAD GIRLS”

Cover me, cause I’m changing lanes

That’s not the purpose of driver aids and you know it, M.I.A! They’re meant to complement proper use of mirrors, not replace them completely.

 

Sonic Youth
“SHOOT”

Can I have the car keys? I wanna go for a ride
Can I have the car please? I’m going out for a while
Can I have the car now? I wanna drive all around
Can I have the car, dear? I’m gonna leave this town

This feels like the lyrical equivalent of Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom?

 

Iggy Pop
“THE PASSENGER”

He sees the sight of hollow sky
He sees the stars come out tonight
He sees the city’s ripped backsides
He sees the winding ocean drive
And everything was made for you and me
All of it was made for you and me
‘Cause it just belongs to you and me
So let’s take a ride and see what’s mine

Someone sure is selfish.

 

The Allman Brothers Band
“RAMBLIN’ MAN”

Leaving out of Nashville, Tennessee
They’re always having a good time down on the bayou, Lord
And Delta women think the world of me

Yes, but the JetBlue women can’t stand you.

 

Wilco
“PASSENGER SIDE”

Hey, wake up, your eyes weren’t open wide
For the last couple of miles you’ve been swerving from side to side
You’re gonna make me spill my beer
If you don’t learn how to steer

Team Wilco lasted exactly one stage before the FIA banned them from ever competing in the WRC again.

 

Foghat
“SLOW RIDE”

Slow ride
Take it easy
Slow ride
Take it easy
Slow ride
Take it easy
Slow ride
Take it easy
Slow ride
Take it easy

I hear you, man. Now tell it to all the bozos over on r/idiotsincars.

Pearl Harbor and the Explosions
“DRIVIN’”

(Drivin’)
Back on the streets when it feels so right
(Drivin’) Drivin’
(Drivin’)
It’s just tonight, I feel the only cure is drivin’
(Drivin’) Drivin’
(Drivin’)
I’ve got no time to think of how you feel
(Drivin’) Drivin’
(Drivin’)
Behind the wheel, so now I gotta drive it, drive it
(Drivin’) Drivin’

Contrary to popular belief, this is not a song about golf.

The Modern Lovers
“ROADRUNNER”

With the radio on
I’m in love with Massachusetts

With the radio off, however, I prefer South Dakota.

The Cars
“DRIVE”

Who’s gonna hold you down when you shake?
Who’s gonna come around when you break?

Such a subtle nod to the Plymouth K-car.

Chuck Berry
“NO PARTICULAR PLACE TO GO”

Ridin’ along in my calaboose
Still tryin’ to get her belt aloose
All the way home I held a grudge
But the safety belt it wouldn’t budge
Cruisin’ and playin’ the radio
With no particular place to go

And that, friends, is why we heed recall notices.

War
“LOW RIDER”

All my friends know the low rider

Yeah, but so does Karen from the neighborhood watch, and you just know she’s got 911 on speed dial.

Gary Numan
“CARS”

Here in my car
I feel safest of all
I can lock all my doors
It’s the only way to live
In cars

Is it, though?

The Breeders
“DRIVIN’ ON 9” (Ed’s Redeeming Qualities cover)

Drivin’ on 9
Drivin’ on 9
Drivin’ on 9

Also not a song about golf!

 

***

 

This article first appeared in Hagerty Drivers Club magazine. Click here to subscribe and join the club.

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Comments

    Maybe I’m just showing my age but the majority of the songs in the article and mentioned in posts I’ve never even heard of. For driving songs please just give me:

    Born to be Wild – Steppenwolf
    I Get Around – Beach Boys
    Radar Love – Golden Earring
    Shutdown – Beach Boys
    Fun, Fun, Fun – Beach Boys
    409 – Beach Boys
    Little Old Lady from Pasadena – Jan and Dean
    Dead Man’s Curve – Jan and Dean
    Little GTO – Ronnie and the Daytonas
    Hey Little Cobra – The Ripcords
    Hot Rod Lincoln – Commander Cody
    Maybelline – Chuck Berry

    Chevyman, sounds like we are the same generation. For 95% of the artists, I said who the hell is that? How about paul Stookey, Take me for a ride in your car, car.

    Take me for a ride in your Car-Car

    Go get ’em grampa!

    Take me for a ride in your Stanley Steemer. That’s better ‘an ridin’ a local mobile with the eight wheels, isn’t it?
    That’s better ‘an ridin’ the Model-T pickup with the bronze hubcaps ‘n’ the beavertail… 23 skidoo!
    Heh-heh. Uh-huh, I see, mmm…

    Take me for a ride in your Car-Car
    Take me for a ride, take me for a ride
    Take me for a ride in your Car-Car

    Take me for a ride in your Mac Truck…
    Take me for a ride in your truck, Mack…
    Take me for a ride, take me for a ride
    Take me for a ride in your Mac Truck… Mack

    Well, wait a minute! Here come one now, daughter! See if you can’t get this here feller…

    Take me for a ride in your…
    3.2 liter Ferrari with torsion bar suspension and those ported Venturi carburetors…

    Hello sports fans and welcome to Daytona Beach! You are about to hear the sound of an Austin-Healey Sprite… trying desperately to catch up with the rest of the Volkswagens in the race. We’ll speed shift… we’ll speed shift directly in front of the microphone and, travelling approximately a thousand yards further down the track- we’ll crash into a brick retaining wall. This entire spectacle, starring Steve Reeves, as the handsome wind-blown driver, is being witnessed by a crowd of over twenty thousand… sadistic sports fans. We leave you now to the track and the sound of the race:

    Oh, for goodness sake…

    Oh, you poor little thing you

    While this is ultimately subjective, my list would certainly include:
    Keep on Rolling…REO Speedwagon
    Born to be Wild..Steppinwolf
    Stone Free…Hendrix
    Street Fighting Man….Stones
    In fact, my driving playlist does include these…and a few more.

    “Slow Ride” was my jam 45 years ago, driving my 1966 SS396 Chevelle. Gotta love an 8 Track !!!

    LOL – you made me think of my younger years. Bought a 1970 Roadrunner in 1971 when I was 17 and fresh out of high school. It had a 8 track tape player – after buying the car I was so broke I could barely afford any tapes so I bought just one – Steppenwolfs greatest hits – played that tape to death.

    Hot Rod Lincoln: Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen. You mention Grapevine Hill, it doesn’t get much better.

    The original version dates to 1955, by Charlie Ryan. It was an answer song to “Hot Rod Race” dating back to 1950.

    And don’t forget “Crazy ‘Bout a Mercury” from 1949–actually titled “Mercury Blues” but most often known by the line in the song.

    In my opinion, most of these selections aren’t worth listening to. Except Born to Run, Cars, War, Thunder Road, Ramblin’ Man and No Particular Place to Go. The others have no beat and are hard to dance (drive) to.

    Thank you for choosing “Thunder Road” over “Born to Run”. Where are “Radar Love” and “Hot Rod Lincoln”? I would even give a nod to “Beep Beep”.

    Many good choices out there for a road trip playlist (mix tape). John Hiatt’s Drive South, Lucinda Williams’s Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, and Jackson Brown’s Running on Empty would top any of my lists.

    Nobody wants to hear it, but if you’re looking for an actual car guy with the court records to prove it, you can’t get a bigger deusie than Sergei Rachmaninoff.

    You might also try on John Adams’ “Short Ride in A Fast Machine.” Kind of an aural representation of a Bonneville run. Careful: can get you into trouble.

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