Most papers feature a “Top 10” or a “Top 5” but being from Sonoma, we’re going to keep doing a “Top 8” for our lists, just because we can.
With NASCAR coming to town this weekend at Sonoma Raceway, we thought we’d take a look at our list of favorite driving songs. The Stars and Bars are not so prominent in the sport these days, but make no mistake, this brand of auto racing started in the south. Origins of the sport can be traced to the Prohibition era, where bootlegging whiskey in the Appalachian Mountains meant you had to have a car fast enough to outrun the law. Once alcohol was legalized in 1933, bootleggers were still racing the law with modified street vehicles. The first sanctioned race was held at Daytona Beach in 1934, with a 250-mile race that 27 cars started with only 10 managing to still be running at the finish.
A reminder to steer clear of Highways 121 and 37 leading up to the main event on Sunday, June 28, unless you need to drive by during the event when, ironically, there is little traffic, as everyone is already there.
8. Long May You Run – Stills /Young Band – 1976
The song is an ode to Young’s first car, nicknamed “Mort” which was a 1948 Buick Roadmaster hearse that died in 1965 when its transmission blew in Blind River, Ontario, hence the lyrics “…but we missed that shift on the long decline, long may you run”
7. Under My Wheels – Alice Cooper – 1971
Hard to believe Alice Cooper was already on his fourth release by 1971, but indeed the album “Killers” was critically acclaimed by Rolling Stone and Allmusic, and Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols proclaimed it the greatest rock album of all time. “…the telephone is ringing, you got me on the run, I’m driving in my car now, anticipating fun.” Kind of says it all.
6. Hot Rod Lincoln – Charlie Ryan – 1955
It’s likely you’ve never heard Ryan’s version, but the 1971 release of the song by Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen reached No. 7 on the Billboard charts. Originally written by Ryan about his own hot rod and a road race in Idaho, the song was changed to relocate the lyrics to Grapevine Hill in the Tehachapi Mountains, north of Los Angeles. “My pappy said, ‘Son you’re gonna drive me to drinkin’ if you don’t stop drivin’ that hot rod Lincoln.’” Yep.
5. I Can’t Drive 55 – Sammy Hagar – 1984
Released in the peak of the MTV era, the video might just be one of our favorites as well as the song itself. The story goes that Hagar was driving to Albany, New York after a vacation, driving at 2 a.m. going 62 mph on a deserted highway. He got pulled over and given a ticket for going 62 mph with the officer telling him, “We ticket over 60 mph.” Hagar replied “I can’t drive 55!” and as fast as the officer was writing the ticket, Hagar was writing lyrics. He finished the song late that morning at his destination in Lake Placid, New York. “When I drive that slow, you know it’s hard to steer, and I can’t get my car out of second gear” Well, maybe for Sammy’s Ferrari…
4. Little Deuce Coupe – the Beach Boys – 1963
The car on the cover of the fourth album released by the Beach Boys actually has outlived many of the band members. The 1932 Ford Coupe, originally bought by Clarence “Chili” Catallo in 1957 for $75 in Michigan, has been on the cover of Hot Rod magazine in 1961, on the cover of the album in 1963, sold and re-purchased by Catallo in the late ‘90s, and has been on tour at car shows since then. “And if that ain’t enough to make you flip your lid, there’s one more thing, I got the pink slip, daddy,” which will mean nothing unless you’re from California.
3. Mustang Sally – Mack Rice – 1966
Any driving song list that doesn’t have this song on it is just wrong. There will be no discussion. Although you likely heard the Wilson Pickett version that came out the same year, with both artists having a top-20 hit with the song.
2. Highway Star – Deep Purple – 1972
“Nobody gonna take my car, I’m gonna race it to the ground, nobody gonna beat my car, it’s gonna break the speed of sound…” Written on a tour bus in 1971 by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and vocalist Ian Gillian when they were asked by a reporter how they wrote songs, so they wrote one, right then and there, and it became the opening song of almost every Deep Purple show for a number of years, even before it was ever recorded as a studio track. At the time, the band were record holders in the Guinness Book of World Records as the loudest rock band in the world.
1. Radar Love – Golden Earring – 1973
“I’ve been drivin’ all night my hands are wet on the wheel, there’s a voice in my head that drives my heel.” Even if you’ve never heard the song, you’ve likely felt that vibe. The song tells the story of a lover communicating telepathically with another as they’re on the way home to see them. “We’ve got a thing that’s called Radar Love, we’ve got a wave in the air…Radar Love.” Only the second U.S. breakthrough single for a Dutch act, preceded only by the Shocking Blue with “Venus” in 1969, and not to be followed until 1983 by Vandenberg with “Burning Heart.”
James
Marshall
Berry
jmberry@sonoma?music.com
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