Music and Driving

I spent the day listening to a mixture of music... J. J. Cale and John Lee Hooker gave way to the Clash, courtesy of Brand New Cadillac (first recorded in 1958). The title of the song got me thinking about the music I like to drive to. "Drive" is the word. This music has to have a powerful beat and a sense of movement and forward motion. Or... it's just about driving.

I love driving, the sense of escape, the zen effect of concentration. And I love driving alone. I remember one fall night driving back from up north where I had done some work... it was very late, the streets were empty, fields on either side of me, the window wound down. I was probably going way too fast, but I felt like I was flying, like I was in a little space ship. I love to take off sometimes, just head off, no idea where I'm going. I let the day take me. I know I'll find my way back, with or without a map.

Pretty much all of London Calling and all of my Bond theme songs CD are great to drive to (barring the obvious must-misses like A View to a Kill, Tomorrow Never Dies and Die Another Day - ugh.) But that made me sift through my music and my driving playlists. Many of them are just about a journey to a yearned-for lover, and so here are JUST A FEW of my favourite driving tracks, with - on occasion - the lyrics, and in no particular order. More playlists another time.


Brand New Cadillac
(Taylor)
As performed by the Clash.


Cover Me
(Springsteen)
As emotional to my ears as it was when I first heard it in my 20s.


Bring me to Life
(Moody/Lee/Hodges)
By Evanescence. This one is good at keeping me awake, let alone bringing me to life.


Go Your own Way
(Buckingham)
This song has stayed with me for... well, for decades now. From Fleetwood Mac's Rumours album... I had it on vinyl, then on tape, now on CD.


Run to You
(Adams/Vallance)
Recorded by Bryan Adams. Okay, so he's not driving, he's running... but the movement is apparent. :)


Boys of Summer
(Henley/Campbell)
I love everything the Eagles did, and this one by Don Henley on his own.


Hollywood Nights
(Seger)
Another one that wakes me up. Now I've given up caffeine, I just drink my decaff tea scalding hot as I'm driving... definitely keeps me on my toes, as it were. I can't believe I missed the Silver Bullet Band last January when they hit town for the first time in about a decade. Kicked myself hard for that as I have yet to hear them live.


Live and Let Die
(McCartney/McCartney)
Fine when driving through Death Valley (no cops, no habitation, no other cars, no nothing). Not good elsewhere, as the speedometer creeps up.


License to Kill
(Walden/Cohen/Afanasieff/Barry/Bricusse)
How many geezers does it take to write a damn song? Another great Bond song.


My Love Is
(Myles)
Performed by Little Willie John. Used as a driving song in the movie Lone Star, and now used by me.


99 Miles from LA
(H. David/A. Hammond)
This was sung by Art Garfunkel in the version I know. I've not got it out of my head since I was a kid.

Keeping my eyes on the road, I see you
Keeping my hands on the wheel, I hold you
99 miles from L.A.
I kiss you, I miss you, please be there

Passing a white sandy beach, we're sailing
Turning the radio on, we're dancing
99 miles from L.A.
I want you, I need you, please be there

The windshield is covered with rain, I'm crying
Pressing my foot on the gas, I'm flying
Counting the telephone poles, I phone you
Reading the signs on the road, I write you
99 miles from L.A.
We're laughing, we're loving, please be there

The windshield is covered with rain, I'm crying
Pressing my foot on the gas, I'm flying
Counting the telephone poles, I phone you
Reading the signs on the road, I write you
99 miles from L.A.
We're laughing, we're loving, please be there


I Drove all Night
(B. Steinberg/Tom Kelly)
I loved this song first time I heard it recorded by the late Roy Orbison. Celine Dion later did a dancey version of it but my favourite by far is the recording by Cyndi Lauper. One of my favourite songs... ever.

I had to escape
The city was sticky and cruel
Maybe I should have called you first
But I was dying to get to you
I was dreaming while I drove
The long straight road ahead, uh, huh

Could taste your sweet kisses
Your arms open wide
This fever for you is just burning me up inside

I drove all night to get to you
Is that alright
I drove all night
Crept in your room
Woke you from your sleep
To make love to you
Is that alright
I drove all night

What in this world
Keeps us from tearing apart
No matter where I go I hear
The beating of our one heart
I think about you
When the night is cold and dark
No one can move me
The way that you do
Nothing erases the feeling between me and you

I drove all night to get to you
Is that alright
I drove all night
Crept in your room
Woke you from your sleep
To make love to you
Is that alright
I drove all night

Could taste your sweet kisses
Your arms open wide
This fever for you is just burning me up inside

I drove all night to get to you
Is that alright
I drove all night
Crept in your room
Is that alright
I drove all night
I drove all night to get to you
Is that alright

I drove all night
Crept in your room
Woke you from your sleep


Where No One Knows Me
(Jann Arden Richards/Russell Broom)
I love the words to this.


Born to be Wild
(Mars Bonfire)
Pirelli did a great campaign using Steppenwolf's version in the 80s. Fantastic photography and fantastic music.


Born to Run
(B. Springsteen)
I still have the vinyl LP... carefully taken care of as I was very much a music nerd in my 2os. Now just a nerd.

In the day we sweat it out in the streets of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide machines
Sprung from cages out on highway 9,
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected
and steppin' out over the line
Baby this town rips the bones from your back
It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap
We gotta get out while we're young
'Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run

Wendy let me in I wanna be your friend
I want to guard your dreams and visions
Just wrap your legs 'round these velvet rims
and strap your hands across my engines
Together we could break this trap
We'll run till we drop, baby we'll never go back
Will you walk with me out on the wire
'Cause baby I'm just a scared and lonely rider
But I gotta find out how it feels
I want to know if love is wild
girl I want to know if love is real

Beyond the Palace hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard
The girls comb their hair in rearview mirrors
And the boys try to look so hard
The amusement park rises bold and stark
Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist
I wanna die with you Wendy on the streets tonight
In an everlasting kiss

The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
Everybody's out on the run tonight
but there's no place left to hide
Together Wendy we'll live with the sadness
I'll love you with all the madness in my soul
Someday girl I don't know when

we're gonna get to that place
Where we really want to go
and we'll walk in the sun
But till then tramps like us
baby we were born to run

******

Then I needed a change, a real change. Like a sorbet to cleanse the palate. I watched the leaves falling and listened to Ella Fitzgerald singing "Moonlight in Vermont." Sigh... I love Vermont. I love Fall. I'm so happy the weather is cooling off to normal-for-the-time-of-year temperatures.