The right music is critical for the success of any road trip. Whether you're driving on a sunny afternoon with all the windows rolled down or speeding through darkness in the middle of the night, there's always some song that will help make your trip go smoother. This year is the centennial of the first cross-country automobile trip in the
Berkley Associate Professor of Songwriting Jon Aldrich created the list, which spans four decades of pop music, from Chuck Berry's "Maybelline" (1955) to Bruce Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac" (1984). The release of the list of driving songs comes just months before the debut of "Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip," a new film by Ken Burns that recreates Horatio Nelson Jackson's cross-country drive of 1903. PBS will broadcast the film this fall.
Take a cruise through Aldrich's top fifty driving songs below (the top ten, in no particular order, are in italics):
| Title | | Artist | | Year |
| "409" | | Beach Boys | | 1963 |
| " | | Chuck Berry | | 1964 |
| "Born to Be Wild" | | Steppenwolf | | 1968 |
| "Crosstown Traffic" | | Jimi Hendrix | | 1968 |
| "American Pie" | | Don McLean | | 1972 |
| "Born to Run" | | Bruce Springsteen | | 1975 |
| " | | Meatloaf | | 1977 |
| "Highway to Hell" | | AC/DC | | 1979 |
| "On the Road Again" | | Willie Nelson | | 1980 |
| "I Can't Drive 55" | | Sammy Hagar | | 1984 |
| | | | | |
| "Maybelline" | | Chuck Berry | | 1955 |
| "40 Miles of | | Duane Eddy | | 1959 |
| "Hit the Road, Jack" | | Ray Charles | | 1960 |
| "Wheels" | | String Alongs | | 1961 |
| "Stick Shift" | | The Duals | | 1961 |
| "The Wanderer" | | Dion | | 1962 |
| "Ramblin' Rose" | | Nat King Cole | | 1962 |
| "Route 66" | | Nat King Cole | | 1962 |
| " | | Bobby Bare | | 1962 |
| "500 Miles" | | Bobby Bare | | 1962 |
| "Let's Go Trippin'" | | Dick Dale | | 1962 |
| "Little Deuce Coupe" | | Beach Boys | | 1963 |
| "Six Days on the Road" | | Dave Dudley | | 1963 |
| "Dead Man's Curve" | | Jan and Dean | | 1964 |
| "Little GTO" | | Ronny and the Daytonas | | 1964 |
| "Little Honda" | | The Hondells | | 1964 |
| "King of the Road" | | Roger Miller | | 1965 |
| "Mustang Sally" | | Wilson Pickett | | 1966 |
| " | | Simon and Garfunkel | | 1968 |
| "I Can See for Miles" | | The Who | | 1968 |
| "Crossroads" | | Cream | | 1969 |
| "Hitchin' a Ride" | | Vanity Fair | | 1970 |
| "Roadhouse Blues" | | Doors | | 1970 |
| "Truckin'" | | Grateful Dead | | 1970 |
| "Goin Up Around the | | Creedence Clearwater Revival | | 1970 |
| "Country Roads (Take Me Home)" | | John Denver | | 1971 |
| "Take It Easy" | | The Eagles | | 1972 |
| " | | | | 1972 |
| "Hot Rod | | Commander Cody | | 1973 |
| "Ramblin' Man" | | Allman Brothers | | 1973 |
| "Keep on Truckin'" | | Eddie Kendricks | | 1973 |
| "Carefree Highway" | | Gordon Lightfoot | | 1974 |
| "Convoy" | | C.W. McCall | | 1976 |
| "Life in the Fast Lane" | | Eagles | | 1976 |
| "Barracuda" | | Heart | | 1977 |
| "Cars" | | Gary Numan | | 1979 |
| "Drivin' My Life Away" | | Eddie Rabbit | | 1980 |
| "Cruisin'" | | Smokey Robinson | | 1981 |
| "Drive" | | Cars | | 1984 |
| "Pink Cadillac" | | Bruce Springsteen | | 1984 |
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