WiTList - Best Travel-themed Songs

Sometimes when you’re on a lost and lonesome highway, east of Omaha, your only friend is the voice harmonizing out of the dashboard radio. There are songs that inspire us to explore, and there are those that keep us company while we do so. Granted, rock stars have a much easier time executing the escape plans laid out in their lyrics, but I’m not one to ignore the calling to relaxation or adventure. Music and travel share a creative, somewhat restless spirit. And if nothing else, you need a good iPod playlist to drown out that latest Kathryn Heigl abomination playing on your next transatlantic flight. 

My Picks:

10. Land Down Under by Men At Work

“Buying Bread from a man in Brussels/ He was six foor four and full of muscles. I said “Do you speak-a my language?” He just smiled and made me a vegemite sandwich.”

9. The Life by Kenny Chesney

“It was early one morning, Playa del Carmen, that’s when I first met Jose. He had a 12 foot schooner, a 3 foot cooler full of the catch of the day. And he was wrinkled from grinnin, from all the sun he had been in, he was barefoot, cerveza in had. He said gracias senor when I paid him too much for all of the snapper he had. Now I told him my friend it ain’t nothing, in the best broken Spanish I knew. I said I make a good livin’ back home where I’m from. He smiled and said, “Amigo, me too.”

8. Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes by Jimmy Buffet

“Reading departure signs in some big airport

Reminds me of the places I've been

Visions of good times that brought so much pleasure

Makes me want to go back again”

7. London Skies by Jamie Cullum

“Will you let me romanticize,

The beauty in our London Skies,

You know the sunlight always shines,

Behind the clouds of London Skies.”

6. Ramble On by Led Zeppelin

“Got no time to for spreadin' roots, The time has come to be gone.

And to' our health we drank a thousand times, it's time to Ramble On.”

5. Two of Us by The Beatles
"Two of us sending postcards
Writing letters
On my wall
You and me burning matches
Lifting latches
On our way back home"

4. Jet Airliner by Steve Miller Band

"Leavin' home, out on the road 

I've been down before 

Ridin' along in this big ol' jet plane 

I've been thinkin' about my home 

But my love light seems so far away 

And I feel like it's all been done 

Somebody's tryin' to make me stay 

You know I've got to be movin' on 

Oh, Oh big ol' jet airliner 

Don't carry me too far away 

Oh, Oh big ol' jet airliner 

Cause it's here that I've got to stay"

3. Free by The Zac Brown Band

"Travel all across this land, me and you"

2. Counterclockwise by Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers

“Bought a pancho and sandals

I threw away my shoes

Brought a toothbrush and a razor

I probably won't use

Hit the track, turned my back

on the Headline News

On my way to meet the moon on the bay

Where she's risin' big and full and blue”

1. Turn the Page by Bob Seger
"Here I am 
On the road again 
There I am 
Up on the stage 
Here I go 
Playin' star again 
There I go 
Turn the page"

Your Picks:

Danielle Hartigan - Sweet Baby James by James Taylor, cuz I've been on that turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston when it was covered with snow


Bren Sullivan - Greatest travel songs: "Werewolves of London" and "Lawyers, Guns and Money" both by Warren Zevon.

@MaldenMark - Hungry Heart by Bruce Springsteen

"I went out for a ride and I never went back/ Like a river that don't know where it's flowing/ I took a wrong turn and I just kept going."

Kelly Cheeseman - Africa by Toto

"As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus from the Serangetti"

@Shemkus - On the Road Again by Willie Nelson, clearly