Cruisin’ and playin’ the radio
Rock ‘n roll was in its infancy in 1955 when Chuck Berry got his start with a song about “Maybellene” driving in a Cadillac Coupe de Ville, as Berry chased her down in his V8 Ford.
Cars and driving have played a huge role in rock lyrics ever since.
We heard them at first through our tinny AM car radios. In the early ’60s, some of The Beach Boys’ biggest hits involved cars (“Little Deuce Coupe,” “409“) or cruising the streets (“…and we’ll have fun, fun fun ’til her daddy takes the T-Bird away…” “I’m gettin’ bored drivin’ up and down the same old strip…”).
Then came FM radio with more choices, and then 8-track tapes, and the songs of Bruce Springsteen’s repertoire in the ’70s and ’80s, overflowing with themes about cars: “Thunder Road,” “Racing in the Streets,” “Pink Cadillac,” “Wreck on the Highway,” and of course “Born to Run“…
Rock ‘n roll has always been about rebellion, reckless abandon, hitting the road and never looking back. It’s no surprise, then, that so many great rock songs have deftly captured the mood of being behind the wheel, either in a desperate attempt to flee the constraints of rules (Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild”) or in a hopeful romantic interlude (Meat Loaf’s “Paradise by the Dashboard Light”) or the overwhelming desire to chase dreams (Cat Stevens’ “On the Road to Find Out”).
As Spring Break looms closely ahead, it occurred to me that the time is right for me to comprise a solid setlist of songs about cars and driving.
I’m aware there are many great driving songs from more recent years — “Silver Thunderbird” (Marc Cohn, 1991), “Passenger Side” (Wilco, 1995), “Life is a Highway” (Tom Cochrane, 1992 and Rascal Flatts, 2006), even The Offspring’s road-rage anthem, “Bad Habit” (1994) — but this blog concentrates on songs from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.
There are several hundred from which I could choose, so I’ve whittled the list down to a group of two dozen personal favorites that are known and unknown, moody and exuberant, whimsical and dead serious. There’s no question I’ve neglected to mention many readers’ preferences, but I have picked the ones that…um…drive me wild.
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