Songs that Have a Highway Reference

Started by ethanhopkin14, August 05, 2021, 03:56:23 PM

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ethanhopkin14

I was thinking about songs that have highway numbers in them (not just songs that contain the word highway in the lyrics).  I was wondering how many we could note. 

Rule 1: Stated above, not just "highway" so "Life is a Highway" is out.
Rule 2: A named road, highway or route number counts, fictitious or real. 

That's about it.  I looked to see if there was a thread on this before and couldn't find. 


NWI_Irish96

#1
B-52's: "Heading down the Atlanta Highway, looking for a love getaway."
Indiana: counties 100%, highways 100%
Illinois: counties 100%, highways 61%
Michigan: counties 100%, highways 56%
Wisconsin: counties 86%, highways 23%

JayhawkCO


Mapmikey

Ramblin' Man - Rollin' down Highway 41 [US 41 in Georgia]
Is Anybody Goin' to San Antone - Here I am walkin' down sixty-six...wish she hadn't done me that way
Most references must be the song Convoy
Born to Run - Sprung from cages on Hwy 9
America (Simon and Garfunkel) - New Jersey Tpk mentioned

TheHighwayMan3561

various recordings, such as Chuck Berry - "Get Your Kicks On Route 66"
self-certified as the dumbest person on this board for 5 years running

1995hoo

Off the top of my head:

Springsteen, "Working on the Highway"–"Now I work for the county out on 95 ...."
Springsteen, "Reason to Believe"–"Got his car door flung open, he's standing out on Highway 31 ...."
Springsteen, "State Trooper"–"New Jersey Turnpike, ridin' on a wet night ...."
Traveling Wilburys, "Tweeter and the Monkey Man"–"They knew that they'd find freedom just across the Jersey line/So they hopped into a stolen car, took Highway 99."
Little Feat, "Let It Roll"–"Rolling down Highway 95 ...."
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

ethanhopkin14


kphoger

Max Stalling:  I-35

A lot of small town names dropped in the lyrics, as well.

Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

gonealookin

Zac Brown Band, "[Interstate] Highway 20 Ride".

QuoteSo I drive
And I think about my life
And wonder why
That I slowly die inside
Every time I turn that truck around right at the Georgia line
And I count the days and the miles back home to you on that Highway 20 ride

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZMCkufE0X0

kurumi

Georgia Satellites - Railroad Steel

Quote
...
On this moonlit night out on U.S. 82...
...

My first SF/horror short story collection is available: "Young Man, Open Your Winter Eye"

jmd41280

Do songs from fictional cartoon characters count? If so, this is "Highway 40 Revisited"...

"Increase the Flash Gordon noise and put more science stuff around!"

Takumi

US Federal Route 31 Dub, southbound traffic near a little green shrub...
Quote from: Rothman on July 15, 2021, 07:52:59 AM
Olive Garden must be stopped.  I must stop them.

Don't @ me. Seriously.

Roadgeekteen

Many country songs mention highways, but I can't think of an example right now.
God-emperor of Alanland, king of all the goats and goat-like creatures

Current Interstate map I am making:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?hl=en&mid=1PEDVyNb1skhnkPkgXi8JMaaudM2zI-Y&ll=29.05778059819179%2C-82.48856825&z=5

KeithE4Phx

Songs with highways in the title:

Gordon Lightfoot:  Carefree Highway
America:  Ventura Highway
Aliotta, Haynes, and Jeremiah:  Lake Shore Drive
Jimmy Buffett:  The I-95 Song (which actually has little to do with the Interstate.  :) )
Nat King Cole:  Route 66 (also done by the Rolling Stones a decade later)

"Oh, so you hate your job? Well, why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called "EVERYBODY!" They meet at the bar." -- Drew Carey

hbelkins

Kingdom Come had a song called "Highway 6."

Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street" had a guitar solo riff that could have been lifted from Rush's "I Think I'm Going Bald."

There have been plenty of memes showing actual street signs for "Electric Avenue." My last stint in the newspaper field, my publisher owned a newspaper in Flemingsburg and the office was on Electric Avenue. I had to go over there once a week for a lengthy period and I got that song stuck in my head as an earworm every time I visited that office.

Not sure if there is a "Sentimental Street" anywhere in the world, but Night Ranger sang about it.

There is an actual community named Oldtown in Greenup County, Ky., the home of Billy Ray Cyrus, but I can't find an Oldtown (Old Town) Road on the map in that location.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

kphoger

I'm not so sure "Street" or "Avenue" really fits the gist of the OP.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

dlsterner

The late Tom Petty, in his song "American Girl", references "441", presumably US 441 which is the main N/S highway through his home town of Gainesville FL.

Jimmy Buffett has an album called "A1A", although I don't recall any of the songs mentioning FL A1A nor any other highway.  May have to give it a listen.

Ketchup99

Billy Joel's "You're My Home" has a line "home could be the Pennsylvania Turnpike."

Road Hog


jp the roadgeek

Roadrunner by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers mentions Route 128.
Interstates I've clinched: 97, 290 (MA), 291 (CT), 291 (MA), 293, 295 (DE-NJ-PA), 295 (RI-MA), 384, 391, 395 (CT-MA), 395 (MD), 495 (DE), 610 (LA), 684, 691, 695 (MD), 695 (NY), 795 (MD)

Hot Rod Hootenanny

Howlin' Wolf did a song about Highway 49.
Please, don't sue Alex & Andy over what I wrote above

TheStranger

I can think of multiple songs where US 101 gets mentioned: Jackson Browne's Running on Empty, Tori Amos's A Sorta Fairytale, and NCT 127's Highway to Heaven.

John Henry Split My Heart by Songs:Ohia starts off with an ode to the Mother Road: "I stood on the 66 highway"

IIRC one of Walter Becker's demos posted on his official website after his death mentions the Bay Area I-280 though the title escapes me at the moment

Skee-Lo's I Wish brings up 110 and 105 (the latter had just opened up a year or two before the song was released)

Chris Sampang

1995hoo

Quote from: dlsterner on August 05, 2021, 11:38:38 PM
....

Jimmy Buffett has an album called "A1A", although I don't recall any of the songs mentioning FL A1A nor any other highway.  May have to give it a listen.

"Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season" from that album does–"Strolling down the avenue that's known as A1A."
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

SectorZ

Quote from: jp the roadgeek on August 05, 2021, 11:58:33 PM
Roadrunner by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers mentions Route 128.

Our current Secretary of Labor, who was until recently mayor of Boston (and briefly a state rep before that), lobbied like hell to make that the state rock song of Massachusetts. He held re-popularize the song because no one from my generation seemingly knew about it and a lot of older people forgot it existed.

Dirt Roads

Quote from: ethanhopkin14 on August 05, 2021, 03:56:23 PM
Rule 1: Stated above, not just "highway" so "Life is a Highway" is out.

Sorry Tom Cochrane, but I've got an earworm right now and it sounds like Rascal Flatts.



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