Records about "the road."

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Was thinking about this because both Jackson Browne's "Running on Empty" and Joni Mitchell's "Hejira" came up on other threads recently. Not quite the rule of three, but..

What records best address/evoke wanderlust, either "the road" of the travelling musician or just the "the road" of the restless traveller? Not the hellhounds-on-my-trail road of Robert Johnson or The Impressions' "Keep on Moving," but the why-do-I-keep-moving, who-am-I-in-these-wide-open-spaces feeling of travelling without a destination, home receding into the distance until it becomes as emotionally remote as it is invisible.

― amateurist (amateurist), Monday, 4 August 2003 06:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Hank Marvin's "Wanderin' Star"

"Wheels are made for rollin', mules are made to pack.
I've never seen a site that didn't look better lookin' back."

CLASSIC!!

― Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Monday, 4 August 2003 06:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Roadrunner.

― Leon Neyfakh, Monday, 4 August 2003 06:51 (twenty-two years ago)

I guess someone should also mention Bon Jovi's "Wanted, Dead Or Alive".

"Sometimes you tell the day
By the bottle that you drink"

...how does one do that then?

― Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Monday, 4 August 2003 06:58 (twenty-two years ago)

"turn the page" by bob seger

― unknown or illegal user (doorag), Monday, 4 August 2003 07:00 (twenty-two years ago)

um, "on the road again" by willie nelson...

― manuel, Monday, 4 August 2003 07:13 (twenty-two years ago)

King Crimson _the "Beat" cd, inspired by On the Road by Kerouac

― bahtology, Monday, 4 August 2003 09:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Motorhead - "We Are The Road Crew"

― Chris Barrus (Chris Barrus), Monday, 4 August 2003 10:36 (twenty-two years ago)

The Charm of the Highway Strip.

"And I've been making promises I know I'll never keep
One of these days I'm gonna leave you in your sleep
I have to go when the whistle blows, the whistle knows my name
Maybe I was born on a train."

― Douglas (Douglas), Monday, 4 August 2003 11:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Davy's On The Road Again - Manfred Mann's Earthband

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Monday, 4 August 2003 11:36 (twenty-two years ago)

They Might Be Giants' "Road Movie to Berlin" and also the one about how they got lost driving around, whatever that one was called.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 4 August 2003 11:42 (twenty-two years ago)

There's this great song on Ry Cooder's "Into the Purple Valley", titled: "How Can You Keep On Moving (unless You Migrate Too)". It's originally by Agnes Cunningham, who & whose version I do not know. Great lyrics, the verse goes like this:

how can you keep on moving unless you migrate too
They tell ya to keep on moving but migrate, you must not do
The only reason for moving and the reason why i roam
To move to a new location and find myself a home

― willem (willem), Monday, 4 August 2003 11:56 (twenty-two years ago)

"Wherever I May Roam" by Metallica

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 August 2003 12:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Cub Country - "St.Louis"

I just follow yellow lines
I only go where they lead
I'm off to where the sky meets the earth
Against a wall of sunset

― BrianB, Monday, 4 August 2003 12:21 (twenty-two years ago)

"Rockin' in the USA" by Kiss

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 August 2003 12:24 (twenty-two years ago)

The Road Goes On Forever, the Allman Brothers comp, is "about the road" alright. The cover included.

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Monday, 4 August 2003 13:24 (twenty-two years ago)

"King of the Road," Roger Miller
"Guitar Town," Steve Earle

― JesseFox (JesseFox), Monday, 4 August 2003 13:28 (twenty-two years ago)

"Vinyl Confessions," Kansas.

― mike a (mike a), Monday, 4 August 2003 13:36 (twenty-two years ago)

"Strays" by Jane's Addiction

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 4 August 2003 13:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh fucking hell, one of my favorite favorite songs evah = perfect for this thread!

"Road to Nowhere" by Talking frickin Heads!

"well we know where we're going, but we don't know where we've been..."

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 4 August 2003 13:43 (twenty-two years ago)

The road can just as often intensify one's feelings for home as it can make home seem emotionally remote. I'd say there are far more of the former, actually, including some of the songs mentioned here. Also "Home Sweet Home" by Motley Crue.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 4 August 2003 13:59 (twenty-two years ago)

"Road to Nowhere" by Talking frickin Heads!

O yes, a gorgeous track.
(Tho' I like "And She Was" better myself ;-)

However, Tracer's post reminded of "The Journey Home", the last actual song on A R Rahman's Bombay Dreams. A sweet, sweet melody - and sounds sorta Lloyd-Weberesque, strangley.

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Monday, 4 August 2003 14:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Waiting On The Ground - J Church

*INDIE INJECTION ALERT*

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Monday, 4 August 2003 14:42 (twenty-two years ago)

"wheels"-flying burrito bros.
"miracle mile"-silkworm

big ups to "we are the road crew" by motorhead. i love that lyric about "one more tube of super glue."

― Jay Kirsch (Jay Kirsch), Monday, 4 August 2003 15:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Rush - "Making Memories"

"Just keep smilin', move onward ev'ry day
And try to keep our thoughts away from home
We're trav'lin' around, no time to settle down
And satisfy our wanderlust to roam"

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Monday, 4 August 2003 15:54 (twenty-two years ago)

the allmans song from whence "the road goes on forever" got its name is "midnight rider" and it's a good one.

― dan (dan), Monday, 4 August 2003 16:01 (twenty-two years ago)

"maybe tommorow", the theme from the tv show "the littlest hobo".

"There's a voice that keeps on calling me.
Down the road. That's where I'll always be.
Oh, every stop I make, I make a new friend.
Can't stay for long. Just turn around, and I'm gone again.
Maybe tomorrow, I'll want to settle down.
Until tomorrow, I'll just keep movin' on."

― astroblaster (astroblaster), Monday, 4 August 2003 16:19 (twenty-two years ago)

"why don't da-da-do it in the Rooo-uuuuooaad?"

― Felcher (Felcher), Monday, 4 August 2003 16:36 (twenty-two years ago)

2-4-6-8 Motorway - Tom Robinson Band

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Monday, 4 August 2003 16:39 (twenty-two years ago)

a good deal of techno music is about driving in my opinion

― nick.K (nick.K), Monday, 4 August 2003 16:44 (twenty-two years ago)

I love Bombay Dreams! And actually his stuff often reminds me of Lloyd-Weber stuff, mostly in it's enthusiastic bombast and pull-out-all-the-stops-ness.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 4 August 2003 16:48 (twenty-two years ago)

springsteen's "thunder road", and of course "born to run":
"someday girl i don't know when/we're gonna get to that place where we really want to go/and we'll walk in the sun/but till then tramps like us/baby, we were born to run"

― lauren (laurenp), Monday, 4 August 2003 16:52 (twenty-two years ago)

"The Home Stretch" by Loudon Wainwright III

You are making human contact
With the postcards that you send
To the children of your ex-wives
And a woman, your girlfriend
Who is living in the city
Thousands of miles away
And it's full of young male models
Not all of whom are gay

― weatheringdaleson (weatheringdaleson), Monday, 4 August 2003 16:54 (twenty-two years ago)

"Willin,'" by Little Feat

― mte, Monday, 4 August 2003 16:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Grand Funk

Out on the road for forty days
Last night in Little Rock, put me in a haze...

― weatheringdaleson (weatheringdaleson), Monday, 4 August 2003 17:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Journey - Lights.
"Oh I wanna be the-ah-ee-ayre in maaaaah cit-ayyy-ee-ee
ohhhh oooh ohhhh ohuhoh"
A song about homesickness that probably sounds better today than the day it was recorded because of the way it exists in the vague collective memory. For at least some of us, this song has always existed. And! Even the band's name fits the theme!

― Tom Breihan (Tom Breihan), Monday, 4 August 2003 17:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Son Volt "Windfall," among many, many others
Neil Young, "Thrasher" I'm not sure it's about the road, but it has strong road associations for me.

― tobo, Monday, 4 August 2003 17:42 (twenty-two years ago)

replacements, "treatment bound"

― fact checking cuz, Monday, 4 August 2003 19:09 (twenty-two years ago)

breeders--"drivin on 9"

― oops (Oops), Monday, 4 August 2003 19:19 (twenty-two years ago)

That Son Volt track still floors me.

― Bruce Urquhart (Bruce Urquhart), Monday, 4 August 2003 19:19 (twenty-two years ago)

"drivin' on 9" written and originally recorded by the unheralded bay area band ed's redeeming qualities. since this is a chance to herald them, i thought i should!

― fact checking cuz, Monday, 4 August 2003 19:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Brinsley Schwarz's "Nervous on the Road" is great. "He tries hard every day at the bank a lot/But they still won't give him a loan" always makes me laugh--I've always considered this song their crowning achievement.

Gary Stewart's "Caffein (sic), Nicotine, Benzedrine" and "Big Bertha, the Truck Driving Queen" are classics as well.

― Jess Hill (jesshill), Monday, 4 August 2003 19:31 (twenty-two years ago)

That Son Volt track still floors me.

The first four songs on that album are, in my opinion, as close to perfection as I've ever heard.

― tobo, Monday, 4 August 2003 19:36 (twenty-two years ago)

"Ramblin Man" by Hank Williams
"But when that open road / starts to callin' me / there's somethin over the hills / that I gotta see"

― Todd Everlasting (Todde), Monday, 4 August 2003 19:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Kraftwerk "Autobahn"

― Siegbran (eofor), Monday, 4 August 2003 20:23 (twenty-two years ago)

nick drake: road on pink moon:

"you can say the sun is shining if you really want to
i can see the moon and it seems so clear
you can take the road that takes you to the stars now
i can take a road that'll see me through"

my all-time favourite lyrics and probably the only ones i know by heart.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Monday, 4 August 2003 21:01 (twenty-two years ago)

triffids: wide open road

― gaz (gaz), Monday, 4 August 2003 21:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Bob Dylan - "This Wheel's on Fire"

― o. nate (onate), Monday, 4 August 2003 21:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Cowboy Junkies - Trinity Session, esp. the song '200 More Miles'. Most of the album's cover songs they picked up and got to love while touring the southern US, so the album, while recorded at home and sounding very cozy, is very much a chronicle of a long tour.

― derrick (derrick), Tuesday, 5 August 2003 01:31 (twenty-two years ago)

75-90% of the oeuvre of Townes Van Zandt. Search "Highway Kind," "High, Low, And In Between," "No Lonesome Tune," "Greensboro Woman," "Flyin' Shoes", etc.

For some reason this type of subject matter really gets to me.

"What can you leave behind
When you're travelling lightning fast
And all alone?
Only a trace, my friend,
Spirit of motion born
And direction grown.
A trace that will not fade
In frozen skies --
And your journey will be
And if a shadow doesn't seem much company
Well, who said it would be?"

― Paul Eater (eater), Tuesday, 5 August 2003 05:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Neil Young, "Thrasher" I'm not sure it's about the road, but it has strong road associations for me.

it's about Crosby Stills and Nash and their ilk and being the great artist Neil Young for as long as that's worth

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 5 August 2003 05:24 (twenty-two years ago)

~~Madonna~~Joe Henry, "Don't Tell Me"

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 5 August 2003 05:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Joe Henry, "Good Fortune":

I will come back for my things
Then I'll go the way I came
Back down your crooked steps two at a time
And to the morning sun
I will call as I run
As if it waited for me now to shine

― Paul Eater (eater), Tuesday, 5 August 2003 05:43 (twenty-two years ago)

great calls on Nick Drake and the Triffids!

― willem (willem), Tuesday, 5 August 2003 06:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Ryan Adam's 'Sweet Carolina' is great song in that vein.

― Fabrice (Fabfunk), Tuesday, 5 August 2003 06:41 (twenty-two years ago)

(Smog) - "Driving," "4 Hearts In a Can," "Hit the Ground Running," "I Could Drive Forever"

― hstencil, Tuesday, 5 August 2003 06:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Jerry Jeff Walker, "Maybe Mexico"
Levellers - "The Road" (haha!)

― Prude (Prude), Tuesday, 5 August 2003 06:57 (twenty-two years ago)

eighteen years pass...

Got a few here.

― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 29 September 2021 12:12 (four years ago)

Nice list! Would make an excellent road trip playlist.

Also Modest Mouse - "Truckers Atlas"

― J. Sam, Wednesday, 29 September 2021 12:32 (four years ago)

Recently ran into City To City - The Road Ahead, which is truly from the David Brent school of lyrics writing:

The road ahead is empty
It's paved with miles of the unknown
Whatever seems to be your destination
Take life the way it comes, take life the way it is

― Siegbran, Wednesday, 29 September 2021 12:58 (four years ago)

Another Rush: "Passage to Bangkok"
Another Jackson Browne: "The Road."

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 29 September 2021 13:10 (four years ago)

The Kinks have two (or maybe one, as the latter borrows heavily from the former): "Life on the Road," "The Road."

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 29 September 2021 13:22 (four years ago)

can't believe nobody's mentioned "truckin'" yet

― grove street (party) direction (voodoo chili), Wednesday, 29 September 2021 13:39 (four years ago)

"Roll Me Away" by Bob Seger is one of my favorites - definitely my favorite Seger song.

― Lily Dale, Wednesday, 29 September 2021 13:57 (four years ago)

I think Neil Young has a few more not mentioned, like "White Line," "Roll Another Number (For the Road)."

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 29 September 2021 14:55 (four years ago)

First song I thought of was "The Road" by Tenacious D, honestly. ("Running On Empty" shortly after though.)

― No Xmas For Jonchaies (Tom Violence), Wednesday, 29 September 2021 15:11 (four years ago)

^^ same lol

― grove street (party) direction (voodoo chili), Wednesday, 29 September 2021 15:12 (four years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRjKXkSeCMc

― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Wednesday, 29 September 2021 17:12 (four years ago)

Absolutely adore this song (even if I'm all the way done trying to sell anyone on the attendant album)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKYwrEmrrUM

― Marty J. Bilge (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 29 September 2021 19:08 (four years ago)

Bonzo Dog Band - The Bride Stripped Bare by Bachelors

― mahb, Wednesday, 29 September 2021 20:03 (four years ago)

swervedriver - son of mustang ford

― brimstead, Wednesday, 29 September 2021 20:17 (four years ago)

each town looks the same to me
the movies and the factories

― henry s, Thursday, 30 September 2021 18:38 (four years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.