By Robert Emslie
Sure there’s plenty of odes to cars – Little Deuce Coupe, Little Red Corvette, Mercury Blues – but there have also, in the pantheon of rock and roll history, been a number of songs and album titles that have immortalized street and highway names around the globe. You could rock down to Electric Avenue, or maybe watch a jag slide into Dead Man’s Curve, but whether real appellation or venerated nickname, there have been plenty of roads, back alleys and destinations that have gained fame for their musical mention. Which one of those are you humming right now?
Image source: [slashgamer.com]
Jeff Glucker
Silly rabbit, streets have no name.
Maybe it's a bigger hit when you don't give the road a proper name. Look at Highway to Hell and Road to Nowhere.
Arnold Layne.
He had a strange hobby.
Yet another honorable, obscure and abstract reference from Rust-MyEnemy. Well played Sir.
[youtube i0WPC-N3UYE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0WPC-N3UYE youtube]
[youtube Paseynpz3ds&feature=fvst http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Paseynpz3ds&feature=fvst youtube]
Scroggs,
Please tell me what you linked to.
I'm so disappointed right now that my employer blocks YouTube.
(And I'm still enjoying the cool stuff you sent.)
The Kinks – Dead End Street
Howlin Wolf – Highway 49
Ray Charles – Lonely Avenue
[youtube m8KO0bMntws http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8KO0bMntws youtube]
Steve Earle's "Copperhead Road."
I'd never want to make Steve Earle angry with me.
Dohh!
Aaaand there is yet another reason the Hooniverse is the Awesomiverse.
Great song!
These days seems like I keep hearing about Sesame Street. Cookie Monster FTW!
Wha? Cookie Monster can drift? Didn't know that.
With plastic wheels, he's lucky to go in a straight line. Check out his radical build: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.html/ref=redir_mdp_…
I am happy with any toy that teaches kids that cool cars should have a motor sticking up through the hood.
<img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51tDkK3-X0L._SX200_.jpg">
While it's not mentioned in the song title, in "Red Lightning Blues," Brian Setzer sings about a race against the devil on "Route 666."
Highway to Hell
Thunder Road! Not really a rock song though.[youtube CL9VWTzR2jA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CL9VWTzR2jA youtube]
Bruce would disagree.[youtube I3J-JGO24bo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3J-JGO24bo youtube]
Same street sort of, totally different songs.
Mitchum is somewhat more "interesting" than Bruce, in an almost McQueen like way. http://www.cracked.com/article_18905_11-celebriti…
while we're on the subject of The Boss, Highway 9, of course:[youtube IxuThNgl3YA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxuThNgl3YA youtube]
I freakin LOVE that video (and the movie aint bad for '57 Ford fanatics).
Bruce Springsteen's Thunder Road (unrelated) is a rock song though and IMHO it's one of the best ever.
[youtube MqiPy99yTCo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqiPy99yTCo youtube]
Dire Straits, Telegraph Road.
So glad somebody mentioned that here.
Seconded.
Not a street name but a song that should be in the Church if the Hoon Hymnal – "I can't drive 55", Sammy Hagar
[youtube RvV3nn_de2k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvV3nn_de2k youtube]
After my first Driver's Ed lesson, the instructor – a hefty middle-aged man with a French-Canadian surname – would put on the radio so that he'd have some form of basic entertainment while we attempted to avoid destroying the rental-grade Impala. The usual station of choice was the local (miserable, generic) classic rock station. The song that seemed to come on most often? Yep, you guessed it. I've a few fond memories of the three of us (him and I, plus my friend who was in the course with me) singing along with George Thorogood as well, but Sammy Hagar's best-known (though not highest-charting) single was what stood out. Since getting my license, I've managed to avoid speeding tickets completely, but seemingly only by the grace of some higher power.
Slightly off topic: in the famous picture used to illustrate this post, the cross walk looks odd. I've seen this picture many times but this is the first time I noticed the pattern.
Was this common in the UK at the time or is this something special for the photo with some deep meaning that went strait over my head?
You never noticed before because It's not the real album cover. The image used in the post from slashgames seems to be cropped from one like this http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_JEEVk0ErpGg/S8DYi8r9YNI… and in the top left was something like a barcode created by duplicating the tops of the letters. That pattern seems to have been recreated in the zebra on the road. Here's the album cover for reference and it is a normal cross walk.
<img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_bSX_YKTAtOY/TSc6UK3JaPI/AAAAAAAAKLc/kcEbu3g4oaQ/s1600/blog.jpg" width="500">
I'm not insane! Thank you.
If you scan it with your iphone, it tells you where they buried Paul.
/Turn me on dead man.
Well, that's kind of rude, assuming someone has an iPhone…
I just noticed that one of them isn't wearing shoes.
I just noticed he's smoking a cigarette. (allegedly).
Several good ones have already been picked. So, in the interest of avoiding a repeat, I'm going to say Grey Street by DMB.
I seem to have lost my Tube of You embed button. So, here's a link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O9Sf4P38oE
While it's not a street-centric song, I dig Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'" and it mentions Mulholland Drive and Ventura Blvd.
There's also Ventura Highway by America
Wow, how did I miss that one? I like that song.
Or, if you prefer something a bit more…British. Flight of the Conchords' Rambling Through the Avenues of Time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2CiJ5U6x24
Though, the other tales are inventions because I prefer it that way.
Of course, (Get your kicks on) Route 66:
<img src="http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q53/Froggmann/02%20Maxima/Rte66/IMG_20101014_145225.jpg" width="600" img="">
Personally I like the Depche Mode version best.
Good one. I unfortunately didn't get to stop by Amboy on my last trip from Vegas.
I had actually never heard the DS version of the song until I took a trip to the Grand Canyon and stayed at a motel in Williams, AZ. The TV had a station that was just pure Route 66 stuff and they played that song often.
You'd be surprised at how much Mr. Okura has fixed up. The Motel Lobby has been fixed up to what it may have looked like back int he 50s, the gas station is still pumping gas despite all of the batshit regulations we have in CA and it looked like they were about to start putting those cottages back together. The biggest surprise was that the cafe (sorry still no health permits) is now equipped with a POS system. Even the generator controls on the wall looked like they were functional.
That gets me thinking, maybe I'll take a trip out there this weekend…
Nice, I'll have to stop out there give them some business.
Goode's Field Road by the Drive By Truckers.
No, wait. Trans Island Skyway, buy Donald Fagen.
No, Green Flower Street, by just about everybody.
Don't make me pick.
XTC, "Respectable Street."
Who could forget, (unless youre not old enough to remember) the Beatles first "street song"? Penny Lane, with the unforgettable piccolo trumpet at the end.
/unfolds walker, shuffles off/
I actually drive past Penny Lane on my way home every night, which means I regularly arrive home singing about the banker, the kids behind his back, and the fireman's clean machine.
<img src="http://www.tanshanomi.com/temp/pennylane.jpg">
Tenth Avenue Freeze Out – Springsteen
Thunder Road – Springsteen
Baker Street – Gerry Rafferty (RIP)
South Street – The Orlons
Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Bobby Womack
[youtube UOg_8hCC4u4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOg_8hCC4u4 youtube]
I am a huge fan of Johnny Winter's cover of Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited"
[youtube r9j25V4iw94&playnext=1&list=PL2D329A4CA587D464&index=14 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9j25V4iw94&playnext=1&list=PL2D329A4CA587D464&index=14 youtube]
It is one of my car's summer time anthems, cruising around with the windows down, no where to go stereo blaring and exhaust gurgling. Souped up Blues music is good for your soul!
Ramones – 53rd & 3rd
<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/54/53rd_%26_3rd.JPG/230px-53rd_%26_3rd.JPG">
That's only a block away from Billy Joel's 52nd Street.
Yet it's a whole world away.
/deep,man
I once worked at 33rd and 3rd, does that count for anything?
When you went to 45th, did you sound like a chipmunk?
Hurriganes – Bourbon Street. Just because you can't speak English, it doesn't mean that you can't write lyrics or sing in English!
[youtube 6RN4pbkehrQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RN4pbkehrQ youtube]
I was about to post the Leningrad Cowboys cover of this one. Good one!
Little known Canadian Factoid:
Tom Cochran sang about the Lie Fiza Highway, which runs from Moose Jaw, SK to Castor, AB; a drive which requires exactly one night to complete.
This was later mis-translated by Rascal Flatts into a song comparing life itself to a highway, as heard on the Cars soundtrack. While existentially more interesting, it is considered highly offensive to those whose mother tongue is Canadian, as they are typically a literal bunch who take to metaphor like a Camry to a road course.
"…whose mother tongue is Canadian…"
"Canadian" is a language now?
Is that, like, where you say it English and then immediately repeat it in French?
Canada gave us Neil Young and Leonard Cohen, and that's more than enough musical currency than you'll ever need. You don't need to make excuses for the irredeemable crappiness of Tom Cochran. "Life Is A Highway" is something other than metaphorical…good one, eh?
Baker Street!!
[youtube QF5dtePX5Jk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF5dtePX5Jk youtube]
Surprising that took so long, considering that he was sadly in the news last week.
Actually I saw it posted earlier, and they also mentioned RIP. But the youtube vid had to be posted regardless.
Honda's singing road.
[youtube 30StTQAUPtg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30StTQAUPtg youtube]
Devon Square's fourth album was darn near a street-name-title orgy. There's the title track, "Bye Bye Route 66," along with "Raining Down On Bleeker Street", "Looking For Lovers Lane" and "Straightaway," (which unfortunately is really a street type, rather than a street name…
More a route than a street, but it's all I've got.
[youtube wiNAk6wPuI8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiNAk6wPuI8 youtube]
Although I'm not the biggest fan of their music, for some reason Grateful Dead's Shakedown Street was the first thing that came to mind.
Same here. Old Volvos or old Volkswagens for you?
[youtube 7R3WBhod0sE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R3WBhod0sE youtube]
Strung Out – Velvet Alley
Days of the New – Dirty Road
Radiohead – Street Spirit
Gogol Bordello – Avenue B
Guitar Wolf – Route 66. There's no video for that, but this is almost as terrible.
Dreadnaught – Fast Food on the Streets of Gold
I was surprised that this was the only one there's nothing on YouTube for.
edit: embeds not working.
While Martha Reeves & The Vandellas were Dancing In The Street, Cat Power was down at the Dark End Of The Street, far away from where Frankie Laine was, On The Sunny Side Of The Street.
While there are several other good contenders, for me THIS will always be the ultimate road song.
("…and a couple burnt-out roosters" ha-ha-ha!)
[youtube X6LzWZYWpOU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6LzWZYWpOU youtube]
Second place goes to good old George Thorogood, "Blue Highway". Used to listen to it on my walkman as I hitchhiked home late at night up in the boonies. The whole album had a good, rapid, walking cadence for those cold lonely miles..
[youtube XxqGj8QGpBI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxqGj8QGpBI youtube]
Tom Petty's Free Fallin'.
I'm not sure if these count, being albums instead of songs, but there's Sonic Youth's "Murray St", and Powderfinger's (shudder) "Vulture St". "Cleveland St" by Todd Sparrow is a pretty good song, and then of course there's Big Star's "In the Street", which is a great little song (spoilt by that 70's show).
All I can think of is Fascination Street. I think I like Stavesacre's cover better than The Cure's original, but I'm just more used to hearing Stavesacre's version.
Now that we're on to 'what else is out there?', here's some Faster Pussycat: 'Smash Alley'.
[youtube rqQhqPblGfs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqQhqPblGfs youtube]
Late to the party, but definitely Telegraph Road.[youtube dd3btVhwr48 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd3btVhwr48 youtube]
Van Halen – Mean Street