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[SidS1045]

Sweet Baby James by James Taylor:

Now the First of December was covered with snow
And so was the Turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston
Lord, the Berkshires seemed dream-like on account of that frostin'
With ten miles behind me and ten thousand more to go.

[rocky roads]

Well it's a long way to Richmond
 Rollin' north on 95
 With a redhead ridin' shotgun
 And a pistol by my side
 Tearin' down that highway
 Like a modern day Bonnie and Clyde

 We met at a truckstop
 Johnson City, Tennessee....

from "Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde", Travis Tritt

Hey! My 1st member post!

[roadman65]

Simon and Garfunkel sing about the New Jersey Turnpike in their song America in one of its lines.  Catching a Greyhound bus for the New Jersey Turnpike to New York City  is that line in the 1968 hit song to be more specific.

[bugo]

Cross Canadian Ragweed have a song called "Highway 377" which is about a wreck that occurred on the illegitimate section of US 377 in Oklahoma near Seminole.

[thenetwork]

2 years worth of posts and yet no one has mentioned the Jan & Dean classic, "Dead Man's Curve"!?!?!?

DMC is named for a stretch of Sunset Boulevard on the east end of Beverly Hills.  Contrary to rumors, the song was not based on a true-life Jan or Dean experience...However, cartoon voice legend Mel Blanc had a near death experience there when the car he was driving was involved in a horrific crash there that briefly put him into a coma in the early 60s.  Fortunately, he fully recovered.

And as far as the stack interchange mentioned previously in the "Freeway Of Love" video, I believe that is the interchange of I-96/Jeffries Freeway and the M-39/Southfield Freeway on Detroit's west side.

[jwolfer]

Simon and Garfunkel sing about the New Jersey Turnpike in their song America in one of its lines.  Catching a Greyhound bus for the New Jersey Turnpike to New York City  is that line in the 1968 hit song to be more specific.

Mamas and Papas "California dreamin'" mentions the (NJ) Turnpike as well

[jwolfer]

Another band from Gainesville, like Tom Petty mentions 441 in a song called "I'm over you"  I had the cassette... shows my age.  But for the life of me I can not remember the name of the band... But I love the line from the song about 441 and I think of it on days when I have the windows down, sunroof open and its not too hot.

" I wanna be, driving down highway 441
 with the windows down.

Beer in one hand the radio blastin'"

no lectures on DUI now.  Not swerving like I'm George Jones , just a beer





Emmylou Harris mentions I-95 in "Boulder to Birmingham"

"I want to listen to the sound of the trucks as they move down out on 95"

makes sense since she grew up outside Washington DC and was a part of the fold music scene there

[D-Dey65]

The Wretched Ones song "Take Us To Your Leader" mentions "Highway (NJ) 21" in one of the first lines of the song.

Guess they encountered those aliens around Newark? 

[PHLBOS]

Simon and Garfunkel sing about the New Jersey Turnpike in their song America in one of its lines.  Catching a Greyhound bus for the New Jersey Turnpike to New York City  is that line in the 1968 hit song to be more specific.

Mamas and Papas "California dreamin'" mentions the (NJ) Turnpike as well

The song you're referring to is Creeque Alley

When Cass was a sophomore, planned to go to Swarthmore
But she changed her mind one day
Standin' on the turnpike, thumb out to hitchhike
"Take me to New York right away"
When Denny met Cass he gave her love bumps
Called John and Zal and that was the Mugwumps
McGuinn and McGuire couldn't get no higher
But that's what they were aimin' at
And no one's gettin' fat except Mama Cass

California Dreamin' mentions nothing about the east coast in its lyrics; although one vintage video of the some shows scenes of NH in the wintertime along with some LGS'.

[thspfc]

There's a song by Zac Brown Band called Highway 20 Ride. I'm assuming it's not referring to the Highway 20, because it's country music and everything north of the Ohio River does not exist. He says "every time I turn that truck around at the Georgia line", so I'm assuming it's I-20 he's referring to.

Another country song, "When it rains it pours", by Luke Combs says 'ended up at a shell on I-65'.

[kphoger]

Mamas and Papas "California dreamin'" mentions the (NJ) Turnpike as well

The song you're referring to is Creeque Alley

When Cass was a sophomore, planned to go to Swarthmore
But she changed her mind one day
Standin' on the turnpike, thumb out to hitchhike
"Take me to New York right away"
When Denny met Cass he gave her love bumps
Called John and Zal and that was the Mugwumps
McGuinn and McGuire couldn't get no higher
But that's what they were aimin' at
And no one's gettin' fat except Mama Cass

California Dreamin' mentions nothing about the east coast in its lyrics; although one vintage video of the some shows scenes of NH in the wintertime along with some LGS'.

My guess is that the confusion stemmed from the fact that Creeque Alley contains the line "And California dreamin' is becomin' a reality".

[roadman]

Simon and Garfunkel sing about the New Jersey Turnpike in their song America in one of its lines.  Catching a Greyhound bus for the New Jersey Turnpike to New York City  is that line in the 1968 hit song to be more specific.

The lyric that mentions the Turnpike is actually:

Kathy, I'm lost
I said
Though I knew she was sleeping
I'm empty and aching
And I don't know why
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
It looks like they've all come
To look for America

The Greyhound bus reference (earlier in the song) is:

Kathy
I said
As we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
Michigan seems like a dream to me now

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Readin' Rightin' Route 23 - by Dwight Yoakam (about moving from Kentucky to Columbus)

Breaker braker - The Outlaws (Height of the CB radio craze, includes the lyric 'Southbound 7-5)

You Can't Catch Me - by Chuck Berry (Don't you wish your car could spring wings on the New Jersey Turnpike?)

[thspfc]

take me home, country roads.

[roadman]

Tom Rush's On The Road Again

Locked my door as the sun went down
Said goodbye to Boston town
Mass Turnpike to Route 15
Take me on down to the New York scene

And later in the song

Holland Tunnel to the Jersey Pike
Roll through Philly in the middle of the night
And hey, I'm on the road again

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Dire Straits' Telegraph Rd (from their Love Over Gold album in 1982)

A long time ago came a man on a track
Walking thirty miles with a sack on his back
And he put down his load where he thought it was the best
Made a home in the wilderness
He built a cabin and a winter store
And he ploughed up the ground by the cold lake shore
And the other travellers came walking down the track
And they never went further, no, they never went back
Then came the churches, then came the schools
Then came the lawyers, then came the rules
Then came the trains and the trucks with their load
And the dirty old track was the Telegraph Road
Then came the mines, then came the ore
Then there was the hard times, then there was a war
Telegraph sang a song about the world outside
Telegraph Road got so deep and so wide
Like a rolling river
And my radio says tonight it's gonna freeze
People driving home from the factories
There's six lanes of traffic
Three lanes moving slow
I used to like to go to work but they shut it down
I've got a right to go to work but there's no work here to be found
Yes, and they say we're gonna have to pay what's owed
We're gonna have to reap from some seed that's been sowed
And the birds up on the wires and the telegraph poles
They can always fly away from this rain and this cold
You can hear them singing out their telegraph code
All the way down the Telegraph Road
Well, I'd sooner forget, but I remember those nights
Yeah, life was just a bet on a race between the lights
You had your hand on my shoulder, you had your hand in my hair
Now you act a little colder like you don't seem to care
But just believe in me baby and I'll take you away
From out of this darkness and into the day
From these rivers of headlights, these rivers of rain
From the anger that lives on the streets with these names
'Cause I've run every red light on memory lane
I've seen desperation explode into flames
And I don't wanna see it again
From all of these signs saying "sorry but we're closed"
All the way down the Telegraph Road

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

If you grew up around Houston, you might know the story of Telephone Rd.
https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/pearland/news/article/The-tale-of-Telephone-Road-9343913.php

Steve Earle's 'Telephone Road'

Rodney Crowell's 'Telephone Road'

Mark May's 'Telephone Road'

[D-Dey65]

Did anyone mention "Dolphin Expressway" by Air Miami yet?

[Finrod]

Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited is also the name of the album it's on.  Any other album titles with highway names other than the aforementioned California 37?

[Mr. Matté]

It took a couple of pages to mention Brucie's "Sprung from cages on Highway 9" but I don't think I saw from "Spirits in the Night"

"Anybody want to go on up to Greasy Lake? It's about a mile down on the dark side of Route 88..."

It's the Lakewood half of the road so I don't blame anyone for not mentioning it.

Two other items that probably don't count are "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and my parody of Bryan Adams "Summer of '69" "It was the worst Christmas of my life... It was a flat on Route 69." in honor of a bike ride on 12/25/2016 where I got a flat on NJ Route 31 (formerly 69).

[roadman65]

Not a highway but in The Dead's song Truckin there is the line sung by the late Jerry that  is "Busted down on Bourbon Street."   Bourbon Street is a road, though closed to automobiles, it may not be numbered, but sort of what the OP mentions.

I think I mentioned many already like 441 in Tom Petty's American Girl and the NJ Turnpike in the Simon & Garfunkel America.   So I think this topic really outlived itself, but then again new songs do come into life each day as well.

[KEVIN_224]

Apologies if this was already mentioned:

[PHLBOS]

Simon and Garfunkel sing about the New Jersey Turnpike in their song America in one of its lines.  Catching a Greyhound bus for the New Jersey Turnpike to New York City  is that line in the 1968 hit song to be more specific.

The lyric that mentions the Turnpike is actually:

Kathy, I'm lost
I said
Though I knew she was sleeping
I'm empty and aching
And I don't know why
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
It looks like they've all come
To look for America

The Greyhound bus reference (earlier in the song) is:

Kathy
I said
As we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
Michigan seems like a dream to me now

Another song with Greyhound Bus in its lyrics is On Broadway; originally done by the Drifters then later covered by George Benson for the 1980 movie All that Jazz.

They say that I won't last too long on Broadway (on Broadway)
I'll catch a Greyhound bus for home they all say (on Broadway)
But they're wrong, I know they are
I can play this here guitar
And I won't quit till I'm a star
On Broadway (on Broadway)

[roadman]

Another song with Greyhound Bus in its lyrics is On Broadway; originally done by the Drifters then later covered by George Benson for the 1980 movie All that Jazz.

They say that I won't last too long on Broadway (on Broadway)
I'll catch a Greyhound bus for home they all say (on Broadway)
But they're wrong, I know they are
I can play this here guitar
And I won't quit till I'm a star
On Broadway (on Broadway)

Then there's Harry Chapin's Greyhound, from the 1972 album Heads and Tales , which also featured his hit song Taxi.

Take the Greyhound
It's a dog of a way to get around
Take the Greyhound
It's a doggone easy way
To get you down

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited is also the name of the album it's on.  Any other album titles with highway names other than the aforementioned California 37?

Peter Case, Hwy 62 (released in 2015)


https://petercase.com/discography/hwy-62/