Episode 6: All About the Drive

All About the Drive Playlist on Spotify

This week's episode is longer than normal as we talk about how cars and driving inspired many songs.  We cover 20 tracks for the "All About the Drive" mixtape this week.

Transcript

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Welcome to Mixtapes of Today, Episode 6. I am your host, Suze Jones. This week's episode is all about the drive. For almost a century, when cars came out with the first AM radios in 1930, music and driving have gone hand in hand. In 1952, FM radios came into the picture. Then in the 60s, the first 8-track tape player, and complete stereo systems. Cassette tape players came along in the 70s, CD players were introduced in the mid-80s, and remained popular until satellite radio launched in 2001, and now Bluetooth and Wi-Fi have become standard media types in most automobiles today. That history alone solidifies the fact that drivers love their tunes. There's just something about being behind the wheel and listening to music that can be comforting, nostalgic, and even therapeutic. Whether it's a long road trip or a short drive to the store, music is always playing in some form. A lot of musical artists must have felt the same way because there are so many songs out there about cars and driving. This episode is going to be longer than normal this week. I really don't think I could actually name every song about driving, but I made a list of my favorites to share with you. I narrowed it down to 20 tracks that are either about being out on the road driving, or they're specifically about a car. You can find the link to this week's mixtape in the description. I hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane. Get it, lane. Okay, enough of that. Let's get to it. The lyrics relate a westward road trip on U.S. Route 66, a highway that traversed the western two-thirds of the U.S. from Chicago, Illinois, to Los Angeles, California. Nat King Cole, along with the King Cole trio, first recorded the song at Radio Recorders in Los Angeles. Capitol Records released it as a single, which reached number three on Billboard Magazine's Race Records chart, and number 11 on its broader singles chart. Cole later re-recorded the tune for the album After Midnight in 1956. This song has become very popular in the United States because a lot of families and friends have done a lot of cross-country road trips, and this just seems to relate to that feeling. First released in 1955. And it was on their album Lost in the Ozone, which became the most successful version of the song, reaching number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 28 in the Adult Contemporary, number 7 in Canada, and was ranked number 69 on the U.S. Billboard Year End Hot 100 singles of 1972.

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Mustang Sally.

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Rice had never heard of the Mustang, which had just come out, but he teased Shields about wanting a smaller car. He decided there might be a song in this situation, changing it to be about a woman who doesn't want to do anything but ride around in her new car. The song gained greater popularity when Wilson Pickett covered it in 1966 as a single, a version that climbed to number six on the RB charts and number 23 on the pop charts. The song was written by Brian Wilson and Roger Christian. It appeared as the B-side to the Beach Boys 1963 single, Surfer Girl. Its main melody is a 12-bar blues. The song typifies the Beach Boys car songs, which, along with surfing, glamorize the teenage 1960s California lifestyle, later called the California Myth. The car referred to is the 1932 Ford Model 18, Deuce being for the two, the year. Little Deuce Coop became the Beach Boy's highest charting beast side, peaking on September 28, 1963, at number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100.

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I get the most out of steel and the target steer.

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It was written primarily by Paul McCartney with lyrical contributions from John Lennon. It was first released on the band's 1965 album, Rubber Soul, as the opening track. A woman tells the song's male narrator that she is going to be a famous movie star, and she offers him the opportunity to be her chauffeur. While McCartney arrived at Lennon's Weybridge home for a writing session, he had the tune in his head, but the lyrics were disastrous and he knew it. They decided to rewrite the lyrics, and after some difficulty, they settled on the drive my car theme, and the rest of the lyrics flowed easily from that. The song was never released as a commercial single in the UK or the US, so it sadly did not chart in either country. The song is from the Dutch rock band's ninth studio album, Moontan. The song is written from the point of view of a man who has some sort of psychic connection with his lover, the Radar Love. He senses that she urgently wants him to be with her, and in his haste he drives recklessly, causing a fatal accident. But even in the afterlife, the song's narrator and his lover still have radar love. The single version of Radar Love became the first international hit reaching number 9 on the record world chart, number 10 on Cashbox, and number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. It hit the top 10 in many countries, including the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, and Spain. The song was written by Mars Bonfire and first released as a single by Stephen Wolf. Although the lyrics do not specifically mention motorcycles, the song is often invoked in both popular and counter-culture to denote a biker appearance or attitude, since being featured in the 1969 film Easy Rider. According to Classic Rock magazine, the track was the first in history to incorporate the word heavy metal into its lyrics. Born to Be Wild was Steppenwolf's third single off their self-titled debut album and became their signature song, featuring number two on the Billboard Hot 100 singles charts. The song is based on early blues songs by Tommy Johnson and Floyd Jones. For the instrumental accompaniment, Cand Heat uses a basic EGA blues chord pattern, or one-chord boogie riff, adapted by John Lee Hooker and from his 1949 hit Boogie Chillin'. Expanding on Jones's hypnotic drone, Wilson used an eastern string instrument called a tambura to give the song a psychedelic ambiance. The song released on Queen's fourth album, A Night at the Opera in 1975. It is the album's only song written entirely by drummer Roger Taylor. Conceived by Roger Taylor, the lyrics were inspired by one of the band's roadies, Jonathan Harris, whose Triumph TR4 was evidently the love of his life. When it came down to releasing the album's first single, Taylor was so fond of his song, especially compared to the other band members, that he locked himself in a cupboard and refused to come out until it was agreed that it would be the B side to the album's first single, Bohemian Rhapsody. I'm in love with my car, becoming one of the highest-grossing songs of all time by simply being on the B side of that release. Initially it was written as a single on July 27, 1979, the same day the album was released. The song was written by Angus Young, Malcolm Young, and Bon Scott, with Angus Young credited for writing the guitar riff. It was produced by Mutt Lang, and his work is regarded as a significant factor in delivering one of the classic ACD albums, the emergence of the double guitar sound, which was later perfected for ACDC's next album, Back in Black. The title and lyrics reflect the arduous nature of touring, constantly, and the life on the road. It peaked at number 24 in the Spanish and Australian charts, number 30 in the German singles charts, number 56 in the UK, and number 47 in the US Billboard 100. The song was written by the American funk band War and record producer Jerry Goldstein, which appeared on their seventh studio album, Why Can't We Be Friends, released in June 1975. The lyrics take the cool laid-back image of the lowrider, the Chicano culture practice of hydraulically hot rotting classic cars, and extending the image to a lifestyle. It reached number one on the Billboard RB singles chart, peaked at number seven on the Hot 100 singles chart in the US, number six in Canada, and number 12 in the UK. The song was also used in the Cheech and Chong movie Up in Smoke in 1978, and later used in the film Dazed and Confused in 1993. The song paints a picture of a guy asking a girl to cruise away with him, and it celebrates the bliss of romantic love, intimacy, and taking it easy with a special person. This reflects whatever personal meaning it is for the listener. Whether it was actually about driving or more. It was released in August 1979 as a single from his eighth album, Where There's Smoke. One of Robinson's most successful singles outside of his work with the Miracles, Cruisin hit number one on the US Cashbox Top 100, and was also a US Billboard Hot 100 hit, peaking at number four, the week of February 2nd, 1980. It's the lead single and first track from Sammy Hagar's eighth studio album, VOA, in 1984. The song is referenced to the since repealed national maximum speed limit law that set speed limits at 55 miles per hour in the United States in 1974. Hagar wrote the song in response to receiving a speeding ticket in New York State outside of Albany for driving 62 miles per hour on the Northway, which at the location had a 55 mph speed limit. It was 2 o'clock in the morning. He was driving a rental car from Albany to Lake Placid. It was a four-lane highway and not a soul around except a cop who stopped him and gave Hagar a ticket right away. Hagar got home at 4 o'clock in the morning, picked up his guitar, and wrote the song. I Can't Drive 55 peaked at number 26 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Track fourteen. Part of its popularity lay in its cutting edge for the time music video, which features animation mixed with live-action sequences. The saxophone solo is performed by Vernon Jeffrey Smith. It became Ocean's third and final US number one single, topping both the US Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Black singles charts. It was also his seventh and most recent single to reach the US top ten. The song also peaked at number one in seven other countries, including Canada, where it was the country's most successful single of 1988, and at number three on the UK singles charts. Orbison did record the song in 1987, the year before his death, but his version was not released until 1991. Before that, Cindy Lopper recorded the song and released it as a single for her A Night to Remember album. Lauper's version was a top 10 hit for her in the United States, becoming her eighth and last U.S. top 10 single to date, as well as her tenth and final top 40 single to date, peaking her at number six on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also hit in other countries. It received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. Celine Dion also did a version of the song in 2003 for Chrysler to endorse their cars, and it became the centerpiece of their ad campaign. It was released on the twenty-fourth of August in 1979, and it's from his debut studio album, The Pleasure Principle. According to Newman, the song's lyrics were inspired by an incident of road rage. He was in traffic in London and had a problem with some people in front. They tried to beat him up, get him out of his car, and he locked the doors, and eventually drove up on the pavement and got away from them. The track was sung by bassist Benjamin Orr and produced by Muttlang with the band. It is a melancholic ballad about supporting someone going through a downward spiral, often interpreted as loving someone from a distance while watching them self-destruct. The singer asks, Who's going to drive you home? in the lyrics of the song. Even though the song isn't about driving, the fact that the band is named The Cars makes it fit the theme pretty nicely. Upon its release, Drive became the car's highest charting single in most territories. In the United States, it peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the adult contemporary chart. It reached number five in the UK, number four in West Germany, number six in Canada, and number three in Ireland. Prince got the idea for the song when he dozed off in a band member, Lisa Coleman's 1964 Pink, Mercury Montclair Marauder, after an exhausting all-night recording session. The lyrics came to him in bits and pieces during this and other catnaps. Eventually he was able to finish it without sleeping. It was released in 1983 as the second single from his album 1999. The song was at this point Prince's highest charting and his first to reach the top ten in the US, peaking at number six on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also his first single to perform better on the pop chart than the RB chart. Later it was re-released as a double A-side with 1999, peaking at number two in the UK singles chart in January 1985. It served as the lead single from her 1988 self-titled debut studio album. Fascar tells the story of a working woman trying to escape the cycle of poverty. It was not a biographical image, it was just a story about a couple trying to make a life together and driving away from what they knew to face the challenges together. Chapman's appearance at the Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday tribute concert in June 1988 helped the song become a top ten hit in the United States, reaching number six on the Billboard Hot 100, and led the album to the top uh Billboard 200. The single also reached number five on the UK singles chart and topped the charts of five other countries.

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Had a feeling that I belong.

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The song is from Cochrane's second studio album, Mad Mad World, in 1991. Cochran has stated that Life is a Highway was originally conceived in the 1970s as Love is a Highway, while he was still a member of Red Rider, but was shelved at that time because he felt the unfinished song was unusable. Following a trip with his family to Eastern Africa with the World Vision Famine Relief Organization, Cochrane actually revisited the song on the advice of his friend John Webster, an instrumentalist on the Mad Mad World album. Released in September 1991 by Capitol Records, the single became a number one hit in Canada in late 1991. Life is a Highway also peaked at number six on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100 in August of 1992, and then it reached the top two in Australia and New Zealand the same year.

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I wanna ride on that one.

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This concludes this episode of Mixtapes of Today. Hope you enjoyed the list this week. Twenty tracks relating to cars, driving, or just being out on the open road. Please check out the Spotify playlist link in the description. Thanks for listening to Mixtapes of Today. We will be back next week. Talk to you soon.