Idris and I are driving across the country next week, my first time doing that long haul. Actually, my first time anywhere between Chicago and Oakland.
Friends! I need your help. Please recommend songs for the drive. The more, the better–we’ve got 2,873 miles to cover. At 60mph, that’s 47 hours. That’s 70 repeated listenings of Fleetwood Mac Rumours, unless you help me diversify.
If there’s a song you think I need to hear while passing through Pittsburgh, or a melody that’s meant for Mustang (a song that screams Santa Fe, etc.), please comment below. Or driving tunes in general. Heck, throw anything at me. I’ve got a lot of iPod GB to fill.
Mp3s and YouSendIt go to tasneem /dot/ paghdiwala /at/ gmail /dot/ com.
(Bonus to everyone that contributes: I’ll mail you the mix in your preferred format when we land.)
19 Comments
TASNEEM! Our ole classmate, Alec Gross, is just releasing an awesome EP titled Rose Tattoo. Check it out http://amiestreet.com/music/alec-gross-2/rose-tattoo-ep/
Also, Tom Petty’s “Highway Companion” is solid roadtrip music (at least the first 7 songs).
Lastly, The Dismemberment Plan’s “Emergency & I” is a must.
I can try to help you procure any/all of these.
I hope you’re well!
Safe travels,
T
Tom Petty is amazing… I’d highly recommend his greatest hits album. Also, you should listen to Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois as you drive through Illinois. I can get that to you as well if you like. I’d actually recommending listening to his Michigan album as you drive across NW Ohio (nowhere before Mansfield allowed!!). For Youngstown and Akron area, it’s mandatory that you listen to the Black Keys. Also, I love Afro-Celt Soundsystem and would recommend them for the start of the Rocky mountains. I’m a little kooky like that. Oh! And you should definitely listen to the band America’s greatest hits as you get into CA.
I can give you all that. For the East Coast before you get too far out of Philly, I’d recommend David Bowie’s Changesbowie.
classics:
Eleni Mandell, Afternoon
Palace Brothers, Viva Last Blues
Bikini Kill, the ep
Julie Ruin
Jesus Christ Superstar
Frankly, I love Fleetwood Mac and can (and have) listened to them for days on end. But, if you REALLY feel you need to switch it up, try some Andrew Bird (get your whistle on), Beirut, Beck’s Sea Change if you are rethinking the whole marriage thing, or Dil Se if you are feeling particularly fobulous. I can put them all on a CD for you if you want.
Oh, and if you could get Idris to yell the lyrics to “Like a Prayer” - well, you would be a demi god in my eyes.
Songs by the Mountain Goats make for good traveling music because they write about every city like they are from there.
my favorite tracks include:
- cubs in five
- alibi
- the best ever death metal band in denton
- the sign (ace of base cover)
- this year
I think Beck’s Guero is the best driving music I know.
K
The ultimate Springsteen playlist.
1. Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (preferably the live version, but whatev.)
2. Backstreets
3. Thunder Road
4. Johnny 99
5. Darkness on the Edge of Town
6.Jungleland
7. Reason to Believe
8. State Trooper
9. Workin’ on the Highway
10. Born to Run
11. Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
12. American Land
As for non-Bruce tunes, “Obvious Child” by Paul Simon, “Domino” by Van Morrison and “A Little Less Conversation” by Elvis are favorite car songs.
Hi!!
I drove from Chicago to Santa Cruz via the Badlands (amazing) a few years ago. I listened to “Fico assim sem você” by Adriana Calcanhotto on a loop almost the whole time (or at least in between an unabridged recording of great expectations and one of a book about WMDs in Iraq). I’m not quite sure why I got stuck on that song for the drive but I did… I am currently writing my Master’s thesis to a loop of Coco Rosie’s “Not for sale.” Before that I was looping “Ootishenia” by the Be Good Tanyas to write to. Not necessarily the most spectacular songs but for some reason really good on a loop for concentration (which I need when I drive long stretches)…..
Happy driving!
Love,
m
from one exreader to another:
low desert • new adventures in hi-fi • REM
sandusky • march 16-20, 1992 • uncle tupelo
ventura highway • america: the complete greatest hits • america
ripple • rev • jane’s addiction
the national side • america • romantica
7/4 (shoreline) • broken social scene • broken social scene
bus driver’s school • behind the button-down mind of bob newhart • bob newhart
mess around • ray charles • ray charles
joseph campbell • american prehistoric • warm in the wake
a sunday smile • the flying club cup • beirut
Okay. As I think I mentioned to you, I have done this kind of a lot. And it’s AWESOME. Indespensable artists:
Johnny Cash
Calexico
The National (album: Boxer)
Tom Waits (album: Rain Dogs)
Belle & Sebastian (anything really, but it’s especially good for starting out in the morning)
The Futureheads
Janis Joplin
The Beatles
The Magnetic Fields (69 love songs)
Neutral Milk Hotel (aeroplane over the sea)
Orishas (for when it’s sunny and hot)
Ratatat (sunrise)
And in general, anything else you find transcendental for when you’re really in a beautiful place.
Okay that’s all for now. Oh, and it’s pretty great to listen to podcasts and/or books on tape. I listed to about a zillion episodes of This American Life on my way out.
So excited for you!
Some mostly newish tracks I’m digging:
Knocked Up/Lykke Li vs. Rodeo Remix (First line: “I don’t care what nobody says, I’m gonna have a baby..”)
Knocked Up/Kings of Leon) (get the original, too)
Lucid Dreams, No You Girls, Ulysses, Live Alone/Franz Ferdinand (4 great new ones)
Little Bit/Lykke Li (tender and lovely track from a nice Swedish lady. with just one dirty lyric)
I’m Good I’m Gone/Lykke Li
Wait for the Summer/Yeasayer (roadtrippin’)
2090/Yeasayer
Why Do You Let Me Here?/She & Him (Zoey Deschanel are you kidding me?!)
Blue Ridge Mountains/Fleet Foxes (Going thru Tennessee by chance?)
Mykonos/Fleet Foxes
Oh, Mojave/Ruby Suns (Arizona calls!)
Miss You/The Concretes (West Texas at night)
Time to Pretend, Electric Feel, Kids/MGMT (getting married doesnt mean youre old)
Let’s Get Married/Al Green
The Mexican/Babe Ruth
ALBUM: Since I Left You/ The Avalanches
ALBUM FOR NIGHTTIME: Every Day/Cinematic Orchestra
My Favorite Mutiny by The Coup
Download some comedy albums:
Bill Hicks
Patton Oswalt
Howard Stern shows
Brian Posehn
Eugene Mirman
The best driving song ever is “Roadrunner” by Jonathan Richman. The second best is probably “Glory” by Television. The third best is “Stray Dog and the Chocolate Shake” by Grandaddy.
Mountain Goats: “Palmcorder Yajna,” “No Children,” “International Small Arms Traffic Blues,” “Going to Georgia,” and basically everything from All Hail West Texas.
Drive-By Truckers: “Carl Perkins’s Cadillac,” “The Day John Henry Died,” “Bulldozers and Dirt,” “Women Without Whiskey”
David Byrne/Brian Eno: “Wanted For Life,” “Everything that Happens Will Happen Today”
Michael Hurley: “I Paint a Design”
Uncle Tupelo/Son Volt/Wilco: “Gun,” “Windfall,” “Drown,” “Ten Second News,” “Poor Places” (YHF Demos version)
The Mae Shi: “Lamb and the Lion,” “Young Marks”
Neko Case: “Thrice All American”
Esau Mwamwaya & Radioclit: The Very Best
Pavement: “Summer Babe,” “Here,” “Perfume-V,” “Silence Kid,” “Fillmore Jive,” “Father to a Sister of a Thought,” “Date w/ Ikea”
Randy Newman: “Louisiana 1927,” “Kingfish,” “Rednecks,” “Marie,” “Birmingham”
DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist: Brainfreeze, Product Placement
Comedy: The Department, BBC Radio feat. John Oliver; Bigger and Blacker, Chris Rock; Bill Cosby Is a Very Funny Fellow Right!; Bill Hicks, Rant in E-Minor.
Literature: Pafko at the Wall, aka the prologue to Don DeLillo’s Underworld
Almost forgot:
Freedy Johnston: “Bad Reputation,” “Remember Me,” “Western Sky”
Dammit, also forgot:
Warren Zevon, “Mohammed’s Radio” (Zevon/Jackson Browne live version)
Anything by the Doors, early Rollling Stones, Eric Clapton unplugged, Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall (yeah, really) and the musical Oklahoma.
for the central valley: knotty pine by dirty projectors/david byrne (dark was the night)
for the mountains: railroad boy by magnetic fields (the wayward bus)
for the plains: the butcher by final fantasy (spectrum, 14th century)
for utah: dust and water by antony and the johnsons (the crying light) (warning: sad.)
motion picture soundtrack to jesus christ superstar. you’ll both want to be judas. and caiaphas.
wait, can i come with you?