Cruisin...the USA! (playlist)

Now that the semester is over, I'm going to try and be more regular with my blogposts on here. Hopefully that holds up. It also might turn more journal-ly, which has been kind of the direction it has gone anyway.

First order of business, road trip playlist. We ended up covering more than 1900 miles this first part of summer, meaning more than 29 hours in the car together. Wow, when you put it like that, I can't believe we weren't more tired of driving than we were.

I ended up assembling a pretty comprehensive playlist for the trip. If you're really interested, then you should jump on Spotify, find my profile, and then listen to the list there, but if you just want an idea of where to start, then take a gander below.

The playlist covers a wide range of songs, so it doesn't cater to everyone's taste, but it definitely skews classic rock. As it turns out a lot of music is about journeys, self-discovery, finding/reaching a destination, etc. Driving as a metaphor is a great vehicle (see!) for coming up with decent lyrics.

Without further ado, and in no particular order:
(Listed by Artist, Track, (Parenthetical remarks are mine))

• Incubus - Drive, Wish you were here
• Janis Joplin - Mercedez Benz
• Coldplay - Speed of sound
• Billy Ocean - Get out of my dreams/Get into my car
• Rollings Stones - Start me up, Gimme shelter
• Johnny Cash - I've been everywhere
• Depeche Mode - Route 66 (or many other artists cover this one)
• John Denver - Country roads (Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies do a punk cover of this that I grew up on and love), Rocky mountain high
• Ram Jam - Black betty
• Roy Orbison - I drove all night
• Tom Cochrane - Life is a highway (or the more popular Rascall Flatts version)
• Roxette - Joyride (Amy loves this one)
• Golden Earring - Radar Love (I love this one. I think it's so cool, especially the intro.)
• Eagles - Life in the fast lane, Hotel California, Take it easy, Peaceful easy feeling (definitely my fave road trip band.)
• Canned Heat - On the road again
• Wiz Khalifa - No Sleep
• Middle Class Rut - Are you on your way
• R Kelly - Ignition (because it's obviously about driving, right? And Hip Hop/R&B is short on this list)
• Pantera - Walk (probably too hard for most people, but this was a favorite in 9th grade)
• Willie Nelson - On the road again (different from above)
• ELO - Mr. Blue Sky (Mayer Hawthorne has a great cover of this)
• Don McClean - American Pie (just feels right for crossing the country)
• U2 - Elevation, Still haven't found what I'm looking for, Where the streets have no name
• Free - All right now
• RHCP - Road trippin' (I love this one right now, cool, subtle jam)
• Bruce Springsteen - Born to run
• The Cars - Drive (one of my all time favorites), Let the good times roll
• Stealers Wheel - Stuck in the middle (LOVE)
• Beach boys - I get around, Good vibrations (I rediscovered how good these guys were as I put this together.)
• Smokey Robinson - Cruisin' (Huey Lewis and Gwynneth Paltrow have a good cover.)
• Tracy Chapman - Fast car (Boyce Avenue has a really cool cover too.)
• The Allman Brothers - Ramblin Man
• Gary Numan - Cars (gotta love quirky 80s tracks)
• Chuck Berry - No particular place to go
• Ray Charles - Hit the road Jack
• Supertramp - Take the long way home
• Elton John - Goodbye yellow brick road, Tiny Dancer (this one probably because of an awesome scene from Almost Famous, and it's my favorite Elton John song)
• Jimi Hendrix - Crosstown Traffic
• Arcade Fire - Keep the car running (great)
• Kavinsky - Nightcall (from the Drive soundtrack, has a great 80s electric feel)
• Dire Straits - Sultans of swing
• Eve 6 - Open road song
• Heart - These dreams (not sure why)
• Bill Withers - Lovely day
• Daft Punk - Around the world
• Curtis Mayfield - Move on up
• Dave Matthews' - Where are you going
• Blues Traveler - Run around
• Steve Miller - Jet airliner (I know, it's not driving, but it's still traveling), The Joker (because, yes)
• Temper Trap - Sweet disposition (felt right)
• Neil Young - Long may you run
• Edward Sharpe and...- Home
• Christopher Cross - Ride like the wind
• Beastie Boys - Slow ride
• Beatles - Ticket to ride, Long and winding road
• James Taylor - Country road
• Boyz II Men - End of the road
• Mason Jennings - Lonely road
• AC/DC - Highway to hell
• Pennywise - Unknown road (favorite punk song in my teenage angst filled days)
• Black Keys - Have love/will travel

Phew. There you go. I threw in some others, but that should be at least 5 hours of driving. Here's a taste of one.