Every car nut has their favorite car songs. Cars and music have been as inseparable as Charlie Sheen and drunken idiocy since the '50s, when odes to Oldsmobile Rocket 88s and Hot Rod Lincolns came over the airwaves. My car tunes are a little more recent than that, though not by much. In no particular order, my royal triumvirate of tunes...
Racing in the street by Bruce Springsteen 1978
Yes, I owned the very car he sings about racing (a '69 Chevelle SS396), but there's a lot more to this song than just big-block nostalgia. The more poignant lyrics go on to describe how some guys "just give up living" while others "come home from work and wash up, and go racing in the street", and sadly, how his girl "stares off alone into the night, with the eyes of one who hates for just being born."
Shut Down by the Beach Boys 1963
As the title implies, it's about drag racing, taking place in the early '60s. The two combatants are a Corvette with a fuel-injected 327 and some Dodge with a dual-quad 413. Even if you don't get all the car jargon, the Beach Boys' flawless harmonizing and the surfing beat make it a fun listen. If you want to envision this in modern times, pit a Corvette Z06 against a Dodge Viper.
Radar Love by Golden Earring 1973
This is about a guy who takes a spur of the moment road trip to go see his girl, so he sets out in the wee hours of the morning -- "it's half past 4 and I'm shifting gear". Ignore the hideous fashion of the band (it is the early '70s after all, so cut the guys a break) and just appreciate the "driving" guitar, bass and drums that make this a great song to cruise an open highway with.
So what are your top three?
By wrinklebump
on November 5, 2010
03:28 AM
No A/C
No FM
And no regrets
In my Chevette
By yankeez
on November 5, 2010
06:26 AM
Red Barchetta - Rush
Highway Star - Deep Purple
And... no driving tunes list would be complete without...
I Can't Drive 55 - Sammy Hagar
By whoosierdaddy
on November 5, 2010
08:15 AM
Gotta add Beach Boys' Little Deuce Coupe.
By milt721
on November 5, 2010
09:01 AM
Good call on Red Barchetta. It had slipped off my radar.
By shaddai
on November 5, 2010
09:09 AM
The Distance, by Cake.
By deagle13
on November 5, 2010
09:11 AM
+1 Yankeez, though I'd replace Highway Star with Bitchin' Camaro by The Dead Milkmen...
By blueguydotcom
on November 5, 2010
02:01 PM
Song 2 - Blur.
Guy Ritchie permanently etched that into my brain as the ultimate song to listen to while tearing around.
By kennypi
on November 5, 2010
09:57 PM
Little Red Corvette - Prince
Mercury Blues- David Lindey
Low Rider- War
just adding to the list
By yankeez
on November 6, 2010
08:08 AM
You DO know that Little Red Corvette doesn't have anything to do with the actual car, don't you..?
By dougtheeng
on November 11, 2010
02:26 PM
Sister Christian.
Also, Fortunate Son.