| Cars and music go hand in hand. Many, many rock | | | | The Cars — Drive’ |
| and roll songs are about, or feature the automobile. A | | | | Madness — Driving In My Car’ |
| large number of people spend more time listening to | | | | Jimi Hendrix — Crosstown Traffic’ |
| music in their cars than they do anywhere else. It | | | | Kraftwerk — Autobahn’ |
| could be said that there are two elements that place | | | | Iggy Pop — The Passenger’ |
| a person firmly in time: the music that provides the | | | | Ministry — Jesus Built My Hotrod’ |
| soundtrack to their life, and the cars they have | | | | Jonathan Richman — Roadrunner’ |
| driven. Perhaps then, it should not surprise us to find | | | | Golden Earring — Radar Love’ |
| that the car has provided the inspiration for a very | | | | Deep Purple — Highway Star’ |
| significant proportion of 20th and 21st Century | | | | Manic Street Preachers — Motorcycle |
| popular music lyrics. | | | | Emptiness’ |
| The automobile and rock and roll go so cosily | | | | There are many, many more, and each reader will |
| hand-in-hand that a kind of sub-market has evolved | | | | probably find one or two amongst his or her own list |
| for driving CDs. While it isn’t really clear | | | | of favorites that we have missed. |
| what qualifies a song for inclusion in one of these | | | | In the songs of The Beach Boys and their |
| compilation projects (under which the shelves of | | | | contemporaries, the car is a vital part of teenage life. |
| motorway service stations positively groan) as the | | | | It is a means of transport, a status symbol, an |
| lyrical subject matter does vary widely, it remains | | | | environment for conducting courtship rituals
|
| clear that a huge number of songs have been | | | | Whether the vehicle driven is owned or borrowed |
| written in which the car plays a major role. No | | | | from parents, these songs reflect a time when |
| popular music genre has a monopoly, and none is | | | | driving was just becoming a part of the domain of |
| safe from the influence of cars, trucks, | | | | youth, giving them a kind of freedom formerly |
| driving
Here are a few examples of the way that | | | | enjoyed only by the older generation. |
| the internal combustion engine has colored the | | | | In other cases, songs about the car seem almost |
| musical reflection of popular culture over the years. | | | | designed to be played as an accompaniment to car |
| Chuck Berry — No Particular Place to | | | | journeys. The driving force of the bass and drum |
| Go’ | | | | rhythm section chugs along in time to the beat of a |
| The Beatles — Drive My Car’ | | | | revving engine. Golden Earring’s classic |
| The Beach Boys — Fun Fun Fun’ | | | | Radar Love’ is the obvious example. |
| The Beach Boys — Little Deuce | | | | Meanwhile, few self-respecting motorcyclists would |
| Coupe’ | | | | listen to Steppenwolf’s Born to be |
| Rose Royce — Car Wash’ | | | | Wild’ without feeling the urge to don leather |
| Johnny Cash — One Piece At A | | | | and tear up the street. |
| Time’ | | | | Kraftwerk, in their electronic epic |
| Roy Orbison — I Drove All Night’ | | | | Autobahn’ (over 20 minutes in length) |
| Gary Numan — Cars’ | | | | endeavored to paint a sonic picture of the automobile |
| Bruce Springsteen — Pink Cadillac’ | | | | and its natural environment, the German autobahn |
| Queen — I'm In Love With My Car’ | | | | highways. A little later, in America, Meatloaf’s |
| Meatloaf — Paradise By The Dashboard | | | | car provided an unusual ambiance in Paradise by |
| Light’ | | | | the Dashboard Light’. An amusing blend of |
| Prince — Little Red Corvette’ | | | | romance and youthful, hormonal desperation. |
| Snow Patrol — Chasing Cars’ | | | | However, your correspondent’s own personal |
| Rolling Stones — Route 66’ | | | | favorite motor vehicle reference occurs in the |
| Tom Robinson — 2-4-6-8 | | | | incomparably crafted poetry of The Ramones. |
| Motorway’ | | | | |