Summer car songs to listen to while driving: Readers’ suggestions
Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” streams skyrocket after 2024 Grammy duet
When Tracy Chapman returned to the stage for a Grammy Awards performance of her song “Fast Car,” the number of digital streams of the song tripled.
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To kick off the summer, the Free Press offered two dozen songs about cars and driving as a warm-weather playlist in May — and invited readers to suggest a second round.
No one can count all the songs about driving and cars, so no list can be exhaustive. We received dozens of suggestions, so here are 24 more ideas for the 4th of July and the rest of the summer:
“On the Road Again” (Willie Nelson)
Some readers have wondered how we left that out. “Going places I’ve never been, seeing things I may never see again” certainly fits the theme, and Nelson’s relaxed style is right in line with the season.
“On the Road Again” (Canned Heat)
Released in 1968, Canned Heat contained elements ranging from blues to acid rock, offering a different take on the same idea.
‘Highway Star’ (Deep Purple)
Nobody is going to beat your car. “It’ll break the speed of sound” and it’s got “big fat tires and everything.” You can drive this rocker on the street for a full six minutes!
“Radar Love” (Gold Earring)
If you’ve ever driven cross country at night, this is the tune you want to hear as dawn peeks over the eastern horizon. “Last car to pass, here I go” – complete with musical imitation of cars speeding by.
“Ol’ 55” (Tom Waits)
More driving at dawn, this time leaving a lover’s house. If you’ve ever done that, you know how Tom Waits must have felt when he wrote this beautiful piece, made even more famous by the Eagles’ cover version. Waits often featured cars in his songs, and in 1974 he introduced “Ol’ 55” like this: “This is about a ’55 Buick Roadmaster. I don’t know if there’s a real Buick owner out there tonight. But my goodness, this is a car I swear by. It’s a car that really is as smooth as deer intestines on the doorknob.”
“Maybelle” (Chuck Berry)
Speaking of lovers…but in this early rock standard, she’s in the wrong car. Kudos to Chuck Berry for coining the term “Motorvatin'” – “As I was driving over the hill in the Motorvatin, I saw Maybellene in a Coupe De Ville…”
Speaking of Chuck Berry, “No Particular Place to Go” is definitely worth mentioning. Hard to say if the kiss he steals during this song is from Maybellene.
“Trans Am” (Sammy Hagar)
We know Sammy Hagar can’t drive 55. In this fast rock song, also known as “Highway Wonderland,” Hagar gives us a hint as to what he likes to drive. Fast. “Come and catch me if you can / In my Trans Am, Highway Wonderland.”
“The souped-up Ford” (Rory Gallagher)
This ode to full throttle is all about rock and roll. Famous criminal Clyde Barlow would agree with this line: “No highway cop will make me pull over.” Just weeks before Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed in Texas, Barlow wrote to Henry Ford praising the power of his V8 engine: “As long as I have air left in my lungs, I’ll tell you what a great car you build. I’ve driven nothing but Fords when I could drive one.”
“Fast Car” (Tracy Chapman)
Tracy Chapman’s oft-covered 1988 tune became popular again after she made a rare live appearance with Luke Combs at the Grammy Awards in February. Reader Karen Floyd of Charlotte, North Carolina, says you get bonus points: “If you stop at a red light and sing this song, the car next to you will sing too.”
Musicians from Michigan are taking part
Michigan artists often reference their state’s automobile-building tradition. These include Ted Nugent’s “Detroit Muscle,” which begins with a roaring engine; Bob Seger’s “Makin’ Thunderbirds,” which is about working on the assembly line; and “Hot Rod Lincoln,” which was written in the 1950s by country artist Charlie Ryan and covered by Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, a band from Ann Arbor.
Our automotive history influences artists from elsewhere, including Dallas-based band Old 97’s with “Buick City Complex” and Blondie with “Detroit 442.”
Detroit-influenced folk-rock legend
It’s a somewhat obscure part of Detroit history that Canadian folk icon Joni Mitchell spent some of her early years as a musician in the Cass Corridor. She lived in the Verona Apartments on East Ferry, a building that still stands. So, give up “Big Yellow Taxi.”
“Mercedes-Benz” (Janis Joplin)
A short “song of great social and political significance” is a parody of our consumer culture that can elicit a wry smile with the best melodies.
“Something About a Truck” (Kip Moore)
Millions of Americans seem to agree with this country tune, with the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado and Ram 1500 being the three best-selling vehicles in the country.
“Fun, Fun, Fun” (Beach Boys)
The Beach Boys loved their cars and celebrated the car culture of California, where metal doesn’t rust, everyone drives a convertible and long hair blows in the wind.
“The Distance” (Cake)
The Beach Boys made old-school rock, while alternative rock band Cake wrote about driving in circles. “It’s a song about success and failure, and actually the failure of success,” singer John McCrea said in 2019.
“Getting Mobile” (The Who)
Reader Lou Hatty likes this hymn so much that “my family has been instructed that while my casket is being rolled down the aisle of the church to be loaded into the hearse and taken to the cemetery, they also have every intention of playing ‘Going Mobile.’ And I might add that if you are on the highway while this tune is being played, it is very likely that your speed will increase a few miles per hour.”
“Fuel” (Metallica)
A version of the song was the official NASCAR TV theme from 2001 to 2003, and another version was used in a Dodge sports car commercial. However, it’s not a song for your electric car or to play with small children in the car, as they’ve never heard this language.
“Car Wash” (Rose Royce)
You need to keep your car clean, so here’s the perfect song to idle along to while the spray guns and brushes make it shine.
“Long May You Run” (Stills-Young Band)
Hippie icons Stephen Stills and Neil Young may not fit the automobile stereotype, but the lyrics read like an homage to a favorite car from a bygone era, and we’ll leave it at that: “With your chrome heart shining in the sun, Long may you run.”
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