What Road Trip Songs Do You Love?

songs by The Lumineers, ABBA, Simon & Garfunkel…
Renegades (X Ambassadors)
New Slang (The Shins)
The High Road (Broken Bells)
Young (Air Review) —Our family absolutely LOVES this one. (We first heard it from a GoRVing ad on YouTube??!?)

you gotta add some Dr. dog and Buddy Holly to that list!

I just love that Toby’s list includes Sway! It’s one of my favorites – everything on Sticky Fingers is wonderful – but I think I was in late high school before I was cool enough to appreciate it :)

Going up the country by canned heat! And definitely some animal collective – summertime clothes, leaf house, kids on holiday. Shady lane by pavement! And for the return leg, something soothing like beck’s the golden age.

Cars soundtrack
Bohemian Rhapsody soundtrack
When I am King and Consequence Free by Great Big Sea
A Summer Place theme
Shut Up and Dance With Me
Sunshine in my Pocket

The entire Céline Dion catalog. Followed by lots of Britney and Spice Girls. Thennn some classic 80s! :)

I would add the zombies in there – so good for the car and family – “this will be our year” is SO good.

Two that are my favorite for belting as loudly as possible:

Seasons of Love from Rent

Dog Days Are Over by Florence + the Machine

I’ve been working on my road trip playlist for years: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0P3stupExWzh5pcwleKDMc?si=p5F_jx7WTbe39u4XmQ-zDw

A recent favorite is Drive, by Ben Rector. So fun!

Modest Mouse’s “A life of arctic sounds” is on the nose in a satisfying way (“…and 100 miles is a long drive inside a car, 200 miles is a long drive inside a car…11, 000 miles is TOO FAR inside a CAR”). The whole album is great car trip music really.

A few other current favorite albums for car trips:
Lisa LeBlanc, Why You Wanna Leave, Runaway Queen?
Cat Power, Wanderer
LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver

Ooh so fun! Love Come a Little Bit Closer. Here are mine- all of which bring back such strong memories from different times in my life.

Baba O’Riley – The Who (what better song to sing loudly to?)
The weight – the band
Fantasy – Mariah, obviously
I’ll Make Love To You – Boyz II Men (weird but so satisfying to sing)
Ignition – R Kelly
Take me Home Tonight – Eddie money
Bring it On Home to me – Sam Cooke
Fool for Love – Lord Huron (listened to this while driving from Palm Springs to Vegas through the desert- one of my best memories watching the sunrise over the mountains. Dreamy song to go with it)

Always need to include Lovely Day by Billl Withers.

And plenty of singable Beatles, Peter Gabriel, Tom Petty, etc because my knows-all-the-lyrics husband is teaching our 8 year old too and it’s the sweetest.

That said we don’t have a car so this is more the kitchen soundtrack. So we have Chemical Brothers, Massive Attack, Underworld and other 90s British electronica for dancing too.

My kids love Jolene by Dolly Parton, Livin’ On A Prayer and Bad Medicine by Bon Jovi and Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars. Not sure exactly how those became the songs, but that’s how we kick off any road trip!

I love nothing more than curating playlists!!! I read somewhere that truly good playlists have a few different categories of music– some that are familiar but not well-known, some that are forever crowd-favorites, some that are new, some to which you know every word, and a few from every decade and genre and energy and tempo and meaning, so I try to include a little bit of all!

For a road trip, I’d construct it like this but throw it on shuffle!:

Everyone knows the words to, at minimum, the chorus (and I really mean almost everyone!):
American Pie by Don McLean
Mrs. Robinson by Simon & Garfunkel
American Girl by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison
Dreams by Fleetwood Mac
My Girl by The Temptations

Can’t-help-but-smile-and-bop-to:
Boogie Shoes by KC & the Sunshine Band (I have a theory it’s impossible for any human at any time to listen to this and not have at least a small smile or bop their head/feet/etc)
How Sweet It Is To Be Loved by You by James Taylor
Signed, Sealed, Delivered by Stevie Wonder
Uptight (Everything’s Alright) by Stevie Wonder
Ain’t Too Proud to Beg by The Temptations
(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher by Jackie Wilson
Spirit In the Sky by Norman Greenbaum
It’s Your Thing by The Isley Brothers
Could You Be Loved by Bob Marley
The Oogum Boogum Song by Brenton Wood
Can’t Feel My Face by The Weeknd

Old familiar favorites:
Maggie May by Rod Stewart
Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys
Mexico by James Taylor
Maybe I’m Amazed by Paul McCartney
Let’s Stay Together by Al Green
Take It Easy by the Eagles
Rich Girl by Daryl Hall & John Oates
I’ve Just Seen a Face by The Beatles
I Feel Fine by The Beatles
She Loves You by The Beatles
(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman by Aretha Franklin

A little bit nostalgic:
Champagne Supernova by Oasis
The General by Dispatch
Dancing On My Own by Robyn (I know this song is <10 years old!)
Give Me One Reason by Tracy Chapman
Always Be My Baby (Cover) by Anderson East
With a Little Help From My Friends by Joe Crocker (the Wonder Years one!)

Slower but happy (and full of love!):
Stay With You by John Legend
Try a Little Tenderness by Otis Redding
Snakes by El Michels Affair and Lee Fields
Honey Slider by Houndmouth
XO (Beyonce Cover) by John Mayer
Workin' on Lovin' by Juice

Just good, easy, upbeat-yet-calm (?) and happy energy:
You Are The Best Thing by Ray LaMontagne
I Found You by Alabama Shakes
The Mates of Soul by Taylor John Williams
Real Love Baby by Father John Misty
Bubble Toes by Jack Johnson
Omen by Sam Smith & Disclosure
Fallingwater by Maggie Rogers
Hold On, We're Going Home by Drake & Majid Jordan
The Spot by Your Smith
Dancing In the Moonlight by Toploader (Cover)
Home by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes
You're All I Need to Get By by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
All These Things That I've Done by The Killers
Lost In My Mind by The Head and The Heart
Fairlane by The Dirty Guv'nahs
Hands I Can Hold by Ziggy Alberts
No Matter What by Badfinger
Stay by Jackson Browne
Buffalo Soldier by Bob Marley & the Wailers
I Second That Emotion by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
Get Ready by The Temptations
Sit Next to Me (Stereotypes Remix) by Foster the People
Through Your Fingers by Pace
Riptide by Vance Joy
You've Got the Love by Florence and the Machine
Electric Feel by MGMT
Mesmerised by XY&O
Ride or Die by The Knocks feat. Foster the People
Last Nite by The Strokes
Always by Tor Miller
6's to 9's by Big Wild & Rationale
Across the Room by ODESZA ft. Leon Bridges

Good for looking out the window and thinking:
Float On by Modest Mouse
San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair) by Scott McKenzie
California (Cast Iron Soul) by Jamestown Revival
Use Somebody by Kings of Leon

(I'm not sure if anybody actually read through this extremely long list but it truly is my favorite thing to create, but if you're curious, threw them into a Spotify playlist you can follow that'll cover you for 4.5 hours!)

Pop goes the world and the safety dance by men without hats!

The Angel Olsen album MY WOMAN is perfection for any occasion

The Walter Mitty soundtrack – that’s all you need really. :

Dance, Dance, Dance – Steve Miller Band.
The End

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Fishing in the Dark” is always a crowd pleaser. I personally have had Toto’s “Africa” on all on my road trip playlists since the beginning of time.

Since you’ve got Neutral Milk Hotel you may like Dan Mangan – he does a beautiful cover of that song and his Nice Nice Very Nice and Oh Fortune albums are especially great. Watch for Sold and Robots on Nice Nice Very Nice – I haven’t met a kid young or old that doesn’t hook on to those :)

I always like to play music that goes with the landscape. For example, when I’d drive from Kansas to Kentucky I’d play blue grass. Or when driving to LA I’d listen to the CONTACT soundtrack through the otherworldly Utah landscape and then a soundtrack from an Alfred Hitchcock film and pretend I’m being chased. Music can let the imagination go wild.