From Sufjan to ‘Nashville Skyline’: Two Takes on a Road Trip Soundtrack

Travel Blog  •  Eva Holland  •  09.26.07 | 8:52 AM ET

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And the Kerouac anniversary celebration lingers. In honor of the 50th birthday of “On the Road,” the Guardian’s Laura Barton put together a 50-song list of must-listen road trip tracks, one for each American state. It’s an eclectic selection—everyone from Sufjan Stevens to Aerosmith to Loretta Lynn is represented—and it’s stirring up a lot of (mostly civilized) debate on the story’s comment pages. I can’t see how she skipped over “Georgia On My Mind” or “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” but for the most part I was impressed by the list’s range and creativity. Perry Como’s “Delaware”? Who knew?

The Globe and Mail has another take on the road trip soundtrack: Dave Bidini’s story of a four-day drive from Toronto to Newfoundland, fueled by 80 second-hand cassettes. Like Barton’s list, Bidini’s big bag of tapes holds an odd mix of tunes, but somehow, each album fits perfectly for a given stage of the drive.

He writes:

While listening to Beck’s Mellow Gold, I grind through Montreal’s narrow overpass tangle. Seeking something more tranquil and reassuring, I push an Atlantic Rhythm and Blues collection—Roberta Flack, Donnie Hathaway, Aretha Franklin’s Rock Steady—into the tape deck. This guides me through the city’s traffic snarl until I am released along Highway 40 toward Quebec City listening to Eddie Van Halen’s guitar solo in Beat It. Michael Jackson gives way to Hot Chocolate, who give way to Kraftwerk’s Trans Europe Express, its electronic machine works thrumming perfectly to the engine’s grinding beat. Propelled by the song’s deep motoring trance, I flatten the accelerator.

Both stories offer plenty of inspiration for that next road trip. I’ll definitely be digging out some old tapes for my next long drive—New Kids on the Block Christmas album, anyone?

 

Tags: Music, Pop Culture Travel, Road Trips, North America, Canada, United States, News and Briefs

Eva Holland is co-editor of World Hum. She is a former associate editor at Up Here and Up Here Business magazines, and a contributor to Vela. She's based in Canada's Yukon territory.


2 Comments for From Sufjan to ‘Nashville Skyline’: Two Takes on a Road Trip Soundtrack

Terry Ward 09.26.07 | 10:48 AM ET

Sweet Home Alabama is the perfect pick for that state, but the fact that two Bruce Springsteen songs made the list, and neither represents Jersey, is a mystery to me. It is impossible to drive on the New Jersey turnpike with the radio on and not hear the Boss (or Bon Jovi, for that matter)!

Eva Holland 09.26.07 | 1:22 PM ET

Agreed re: the Boss and Jersey. The only thing I can figure is she must have been worried about finding something else for Arkansas and Nebraska, and then didn’t want to get into Springsteen overkill. But 3 of his tracks in a list of 50 great American road trip songs is hardly overdoing it…

Pearl Jam tried to do something similar a couple years ago on an all-Canadian tour, trying to learn some place-specific covers for each stop. I think they just ended up doing The Guess Who’s “Running Back to Saskatoon” and then Neil Young songs in every other city, though.

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