Go ahead and load up your mp3 player, slip on your earphones, and crank up the tunes. Who knows where these songs will take you.
Photo by Jaako
There’s a good reason many of us take an mp3 player with us when we travel. Music can transport us-back home, away from an overcrowded bus, or through a restless night.
Music helps us connect to others-to fellow travelers who might share our taste in songs and to locals who might not speak our language but can carry the rhythm.
For those of us with gypsy blood, music can speak to who we are and why it is that we can never seem to settle down. Music engenders a desire to see a new place, or to travel simply for the joy of the journey.
In the few minutes that a song lasts, the ember of wanderlust inside us can be stoked into a bonfire that can’t be ignored. Suddenly, we’re inspired to earn that money, book that flight, pack that bag–do whatever it takes to get back on the road.
So here I present thirty songs that best capture the spirit of travel.
Go ahead and load up your mp3 player, slip on your earphones, and crank up the tunes. Who knows where these songs will take you.
Songs About Place
Certain songs take you immediately to a specific place. They precisely capture somewhere you’ve been or inspire you to plan a trip to the locale forever locked in lyrics.
Other songs don’t name names, but in your mind, the place evoked by the tune is so exact you have no doubt what town, city, or country the singer is crooning about…until you meet another traveler who pictures an entirely different place every time that song is played.
1. Carolina in My Mind by James Taylor
Who doesn’t see that Carolina sunshine or feel that moonshine when this classic comes through the speakers? I certainly hear “the highway calling” each time this song appears on my play list.
2. Marrakesh Express by Crosby, Stills, and Nash
The vivid imagery of this song–colored cottons, charming cobras–brings this famed Moroccan city right to life. Can you resist its call?
3. Africa by Toto
Come on, I couldn’t leave this one off, could I? It’s classic.
4. Katmandu by Cat Stevens
Strange and bewildering is certainly one way to describe this town. If you’ve been there, I’m sure you can think of many other fitting adjectives.
5. Graceland by Paul Simon
On the surface, sure, it’s a song about Memphis, but I think we all have our own Graceland, that place where we go for reasons we can’t explain, with the hope of being well received.
6. We Danced Anyway by Deana Carter
In each of our histories, there’s that “happy little foreign town,” where we danced, laughed, and were in love with every minute of every day. It’s the place we find a way to go back to time and again, even if just in our memories.
7. Where the Streets Have No Name by U2
It’s the town not in any guidebook, the one you found when you got off the train at the wrong stop or surreptitiously shared a hostel room with someone who had just come from there. It’s the restaurant without a sign, the guestroom tucked away in a back alley, the beach you’ll never be able to find again…but will always remember.
Songs About How To Travel
A common maxim reminds us that it’s not the destination, but the journey that matters. If it’s about the journey, then the method of transportation is important.
By boat, by train, by foot, by car…the manner in which we travel plays a large role in the way in which we experience the world.
8. Proud Mary by CCR
Is it possible to listen to this song and not want to give up that “good job in the city” to “hitch a ride on a river boat queen”? Whether it’s on the Mississippi, the Amazon, the Nile, the Ganges, or some smaller, quieter river, boats are a great throwback way to travel.
9. City of New Orleans by Arlo Guthrie
I’m not sure you can call yourself a traveler if you’ve never made at least one trip by train, passing time playing cards with friends and watching the world pass outside your window.
Songs About the Reasons We Travel
We each have our private reasons for taking a trip, but there are common themes that link travelers.
Often we journey in search of something–ourselves, love, adventure, understanding, the place we belong. Sometimes we go simply because we can’t stand to stay where we are or because of an almost desperate urge for movement.
And in some cases, there is no reason. We travel simply because we are travelers.
Photo by Colin Gregory Palmer
10. Time to Move On by Tom Petty
Stay in one place too long and sometimes it really seems that you can feel the grass growing underfoot. That’s when you know for certain that it’s time to move on.
11. The World at Large by Modest Mouse
With the changing of seasons comes a desire for a change of scenery. The migrating instinct awakes in our souls.
12. America by Simon & Garfunkel
While every trip might be a search for somewhere new or different, it’s also true that every journey away from home is an opportunity to better understand the place from which we come.
13. Taking the Long Way Around by the Dixie Chicks
You have them - the friends who stayed at home and settled down. You look at their lives and can’t imagine finding happiness that way. They, on the other hand, look at your life and wonder why you always have to take “the long way around.” Different strokes, right?
14. The River by Garth Brooks
Some people are content to sit on the shorelines, but those of us who travel know that we’ve got to get out there and chance the rapids, dance in the tides, and follow the dream wherever it leads.
15. Fly Away from Here by Aerosmith
As Steven Tyler sings, “our hopes and dreams are out there somewhere.” We can stay where we are and hope our dreams come to us or we can go out and find that better place. I’m not seeing much of a choice here.
16. Free Bird by Lynrd Skynrd
If you live for that feeling of freedom that comes with arriving in a destination where no one knows you, there’s nothing in the world that can hold you down.
17. Ramble On by Led Zeppelin
Is it love that we’re all looking for as we ramble on? Maybe… though not necessarily romantic love. Love of a place, love of a time, love of life itself.
18. Here I Go Again by Whitesnake
Sometimes the road is lonely and the destination isn’t always clear, but the dream is always big enough to compel us to walk down that road time and time again.
19. Ramblin’ Man by the Allman Brothers
Trying to explain why you travel to those who’d rather stay in one place is often futile. You’re coming from places too far apart, so sometimes the best answer (and maybe the true answer) is simply that you were “born a ramblin’ man.”
Songs that Capture the Joy of Travel
At the end of the day, what most often inspires us to go is the ecstasy of travel, pure and simple. The frustrations of airports, the struggles with packing, and the tedium of days spent working all fade away when you set off on your journey.
Photo by Ash
20. Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude by Jimmy Buffett
Who hasn’t scanned the departures at the airport and recalled all the places that they’ve already been and made plans for the places still to be explored?
21. On the Road Again by Willie Nelson
Going places that you’ve never been, seeing things that you’ve never seen, making music with your friends…isn’t that what travel is all about?
22. A Good Day to Run by Darryl Worley
The only question this song leaves to ponder is: what day isn’t a good day to run?
23. Roam by the B-52’s
Fly the skies, see the seas, run around all the continents. Go ahead, roam without a care.
24. Come Away With Me by Norah Jones
I’m not sure it’s possible to resist this siren’s call to walk with her in yellow-grassed fields, to stand with her atop a mountain, to lie with her under a tin roof in the rain. It’s travel the romantic way.
25. Fly Away by Lenny Kravitz
Just think of all the places you would visit if you could fly, taking off with every whim. And travel without the hassle of the airport…I’m not sure it gets better than that.
26. Life is a Highway by Tom Cochrane
Windows down, gas tank full, an open road in front of you. This song demands that you sing along as you see the world from behind the wheel.
27. Wherever I May Roam by Metallica
When you’re able to find home on the road, you know that you’ve reached a new level of travel and you no longer care how the world defines you.
28. I’ve Been Everywhere by Johnny Cash
Though I’ve yet to actually meet anyone who can claim they’ve been everywhere, there certainly are a lot of people trying. Regardless of whether you like to hit as many spots as you can or take it slow and easy through one place, rambling through the many places listed in this song is always fun.
29. King of the Road by Roger Miller
Everybody wants to be king of something, and if you’re a traveler, there’s no better kingdom than the road.
30. Around the World by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
No arguing here. Life is indeed beautiful all around the world.
What songs would you add to the list? Share your picks in the comments!
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Great list! I’d add John Denver’s “Country Roads” which always reminds me of road trips.
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“Country Roads” actually always reminds me of Oktoberfest in Munich, oddly enough. They play that song over and over, and though I’m not sure how many people really know the words, everyone sings along. It was pretty amusing…at least the first few times.
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Great list. It’s hard for me to go anywhere without a good playlist to accompany me, and road trips deserve there own newly created one.
Carolina in my Mind is my number one travel song. So peaceful and relaxing, just prepares your for the open road.
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L.A. Woman by The Doors. The engine in the beginning says it all.
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When I hear that opening of Toto’s Africa, I get ready to warm up my vocal chords. Something about it reminds me of open plains, jungles, and drunken backpackers sharing a poor sing-a-long in some back alley…
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“Around the World” by Daft Punk. (More like “Around the Clubs…”)
Perhaps “I’m Afraid of Americans” by Bowie? Always makes me wanna go somewhere else…
Seriously. “No Particular Place to Go,” by Chuck Berry. Or the entire album of Joe Jackson’s “Big World.”
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Proud Mary is a great song - was going to say that the only one missing from the list was “Country Roads” but someone beat me to it!
Short, relevant story - in November when I was studying kung fu at the Shaolin Temple, our sifu (master) ordered us to sing a song. I was the only American,there were 3 Germans, 2 Danish, an Australian, and a guy from Singapore. After 5 minutes of deliberation, the only song that we could come up with that everyone knew the words was John Denver’s “Country Roads”! I’ll never forget singing it with those guys while a baffled Chinese sifu watched us get into tears missing home.
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“King of the Road” and “City of New Orleans” top my list for sure.
I’d change Petty songs and go with “Runnin’ Down a Dream.”
I’d also add Lucinda Williams’ “West,” and Dwight Yoakam’s “Thousand Miles from Nowhere.”
As a guilty pleasure I would add Duran Duran’s “Rio.”
And for the local addition(Louisville, KY!) that few know of(although the author of this article does), I’d add The Muckrakers’ “Longitudes.” it would make a great first song for the mix…
Is this addition only, or am I now responsible for 4 subtractions as well?
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Oh man, how about The Wild Rover, that classic old Irish drinking song…I remember singing that at the top of my lungs with a manic, flat-broke Irishman in a little fishing boat off Koh Sdach in Cambodia…and plenty of drunken sing-a-longs coming home from the bars in any number of countries.
“Cause it’s no, nay, never…(right up your kilt!) No Nay Never, no more! Will I pla-a-a-ay the Wild Rover…nay never, no more…”
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My top 10 may be different, but Toto will be in. To not enlarge the comment, Im giving the liyrics as http://www.lyrics.kalemguzeli.net/toto-africa.html . (Repeat and repeat again) Thanks for the list - great list.
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See the World, by Gomez. The song is amazing. Check out the video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=fKJJRnuCwF4
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I can add two solid contenders:
Don’t Dream it’s Over - Crowded House. But you’ll never see the end of the road
While youre travelling with me.
Under African Skies - Paul SimonAnd of course, Down Under by Men at Work. My Australia photo slideshow is set to that music.
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Wonderful list, I’m going to bookmark it so I have a kick-ass playlist on the Ipod for the next adventure! Thanks, love the site.
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hey theresa,
great list!
my top would be wide open spaces. i absolutely love it… makes me miss owning a car, but long way around is an excellent choice.
i would also add:
dreams by fleetwood mac
summertime by sublime
on a sad note the one by macy gray about getting out of town, the title eludes me
midnight train to georgia by the indigo girls
highway man by johnny cash
the wanderer by johnny cash & u2shoot, so many good ones!
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Excellent. It was so rad to see The World At Large make the list. It’s the one that keeps me going.
“Ice age, heat wave can’t complain
If the world’s at large why should I remain.”↵ -
What about “london still” by the waifs or “breakaway” by kelly clarkson
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Bon Scott era AC/DC’s Ride On is a classic travel song I think: slow and melancholic lonely travel blues (believe it or not for those who only know later AC/DC!)
How about a section for coming home after a long trip too, with Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Comin’ Home top of the list; followed by Guns n’ Roses Paradise City, Motley Crue’s Home Sweet Home etc
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My ultimate travel song is Pure Shores by All Saints. Not only does it remind me of my favourite travel movie but it also reminds me of the eternal search to find my beach.
Also, having my ipod on shuffle and having Beautiful Day by U2 suddenly start to play… Standing on the Great Wall as Bono sings “See China right in front of you,” was kinda breath-taking.
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Cassie - I always wonder when there’s a coincidence like that; when an song matches where you are. It’s usually a nice feeling of “all is right with the world.”
Then again, it’s also nice to be listening to something fun when in a risky situation. I was careening down a steep mountain road in Laos a couple years ago, while listening to “The Ding Dong Song” by Gunther. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRk5MQPp7lw
How could something bad happen when listening to a song like that?
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How about “Kokomo” by the Beach Boys????
“…to Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama….”
it’s universal, and it makes you feel good because of the catchy melody. A classic!
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I like “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin, but only when the oxygen gets veeeeerry thin, and the stars come out during lunchtime.
Still, it does fit those instances when no other song really would, like when all your clothes have been stolen by gypsies, or the plane is crashing. Have you ever tried whistling it when the police are booking you for something grievous? Me neither, but it’s on the list of things to do. And you know, I bet the guys in the cell will recognize it and whistle along!
Or Phil Collins.
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I’m not a huge Bob Seger fan, but Roll Me Away captures the spirit of freedom from being on the road…
“Starin’ out at the great divide, I could go east, I could go west, it was all up to me to decide…”
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How can you leave off Come Fly With Me by Frank Sinatra? Your others are good though….
Come fly with me, lets fly lets fly away
If you can use, some exotic booze
Theres a bar in far bombay
Come fly with me, well fly well fly awayCome fly with me, lets float down to peru
In lama land, theres a one man band
And hell toot his flute for you
Come fly with me, well float down in the blueOnce I get you up there, where the air is rarefied
Well just glide, starry eyed
Once I get you up there, Ill be holding you so near
You may here, angels cheer - because were togetherWeather wise its such a lovely day
You just say the words, and well beat the birds
Down to acapulco bay
Its perfect, for a flying honeymoon - they say
Come fly with me, well fly well fly away↵ -
Roseanne Cash’s “Rules of Travel” for How to Travel section!
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Off the top of my head…
"Rock the Casbah" by The Clash. So silly, but I couldn't get it out of my head in Morocco.
Rufus Wainwright's "Barcelona" and "Leaving For Paris Pt. 2"
"Holiday in Spain" by Counting CrowsAmy Winehouse's "You Know I'm No Good" drew lots of hoots and hollers in Spanish bars when she'd sing "Jamaica and Spain/We're like how we were again."
What's the deal with the duplicate comments? Is everyone seeing each one two or three times?
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Come away with me!
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For the reflective, personal growth spirit of travelling, and the vibe of the journeying itself:::
"Ancient Love" by Anoushka Shankar
"Beloved" by Anoushka Shankar
"Naked" by Anoushka Shankar
"Adios Ayer" by Jose Padilla (from one of the Cafe Del Mar albums)
"Mumbai Theme Tune" by A.R. Rahman (also from Cafe Del Mar - Volume 5)
"Promentory" from the Last of the Mohicans soundtrack.For the (sometimes) loneliness of leaving, being on the road, and returning home:::
Blue by Euphoria (with Tina Dico)
Set the Fire to the Third Bar by Snow Patrol (with Martha Wainwright)
Run (acoustic version) by Snow Patrol
The Golden Age by BeckFor the vibrancy, urgency, excitment, and that feeling of optimism and infinite possibilities of new places and people:::
New York New York by Moby (with Debbie Harry)
In My Heart by Moby
Teardrop by Massive Attack
Unfinished Sympathy by Massive Attack
Heartbeats by Jose GonzalezComing home:::
You're So Cool by Hans Zimmer (also known as the True Romance theme tune)
Sand In My Shoes by Dido↵ -
Mr Tambourine Man by Dylan: Take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind
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More Than A Feeling - Boston
I love singing it loudly on open roads
hehe
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I Am A Passenger - Iggy Pop
Everything about traveling in every area of the country. Backstreets to open highways.↵ -
When it all goes south from Alabama
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Send Me on My Way by Rusted Root.
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All good songs, but I guess I good travel song is as individual as the person’s taste. I love Split Enz’s ‘Six Months in a Leaky Boat’ when on water, and ‘This Road’ from James Blundell (Australian singer) when in a car. I also like ‘I was a Kamikaze Pilot’ from the Hoodoo Gurus when I’m in any form of transport that’s a bit crazy, like mini-bus taxis.
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I would also add ‘Into The Great Wide Open’ by Petty for its feeling of freedom. I would also add ‘Margaritaville’ by Buffett under the places category. Great list though!
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Land Down Under - Men At Work
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Im supprized to see no Eddie Vedder (the guy who did the Into the Wild sountrack)
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“Just Like I Pictured It” by Medeski, Martin and Wood
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Beirut’s “Postcards From Italy” has a horn part that makes me think about that feeling when you’re in the car at the beginning of a long trip and everyone is quiet and happy.
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“Wonderlust King” by Gogol Bordello, “Every Dog Has His Day” by Flogging Molly and “Une Americaine a Paris” by Rupa and the April Fishes really do it for me. Actually come to think of it just about everything by those three bands.
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Thought I’d jump in here with some more contemporary tunes… As well as some of the lyrics that I really feel capture the feel of travel in those songs:
Beyond the Border, by the Line: Very emphatically about travel and backpacking. I can’t find the lyrics online anywhere and some are hard to hear, but it’s like this “Take me now, on the road / take me as far away from here as I can go, / and I don’t care my destination, anywhere but here is fine / and I don’t care if I’m ever going home.” What backpacker hasn’t felt like that sometimes?
All For Swinging You Around, The New Pornographers: “Exploding international, the scenes, the sounds / and famously, the feeling that you can’t squeeze ’round.” “Can’t tell if this is fantasy or culture shock…”
Heartbreak World, by Matt Nathanson: “Let’s all pack up and move this year / We’ll slip the lines and disappear / leave memories for auctioneers / and those just standing still”
Pretty the World, Matt Nathanson
Curve of the Earth, Matt NathansonThe Way, Fastball: “They made up their minds / And they started packing /
They left before the sun came up that day / An exit to eternal summer slacking / But where were they going without ever knowing the way?”Beautiful Thing, Sister Hazel: “Well I’ll follow you wherever when you lead me by my nose on / another big adventure I suppose”
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Hello guys! Thanks for all tips about songs! I like a lot of these songs you mentioned. Personally I like Bittersweet Symphony-The Verve (watch the video first) and Somewhere over the Rainbow, Porcelain by Moby, Glass of water-Coldplay and Rainy Day-Coldplay such of beautiful songs and perfect to walk to. ( At least for me)
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“She Walked Along the River (The T-Shirt Song)” by travel songwriting duo Gary Lee Kraut and Jordan Zell.
Travel music video recently released on France Revisited.“My girlfriend went to Paris,
Walked along the river…”↵ -
It’s not specifically related to travel, but the song that really gets me fired up on those late-night road trips is “Nightshift” by the Commodores. There’s something about that song that pumps the adrenaline for me.
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Kaiser Chiefs “Oh My God” (the “And oh my god I can’t believe it, I’ve never been this far away from home” song)!
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I am including some lyrics for those songs that are rather obscure.
**900 Miles (Bethany and Rufus). Music actually sounds like a train, which just adds to the fantastic song.
“I am walking down the track, I’ve got tears in my eyes, I’m trying to read a letter from my home. And if this train runs me right I’ll be home tomorrow night because I am 900 miles from my home…”
**What a wonderful World (Good ol’ Mr Armstrong)
**My Love Goes With You (The Innocence Mission)
**Walking in Memphis (Carc Cohn)
**In a Big Country (Big Country)
**Fool (Cat Power)
“Apartment in New York, London and Paris/Where will we rest, we’re all living on top of it”**Rust and Cyanide (Alaska)
“Something’s grand in this place/between us, we equal an inhuman race/where the people parade on top of the graves/as a point that they make to tempt fate./in Alaska, we have found our skate.”**I’ll Be Gone Til November (Wyclef Jean)
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all good tunes,
Was glad to see eddie vedder mentioned for the ‘into the wild soundtrack!’
for me, its gotta be
Incubus - Aqueous Transmission (further down the river…)
and no trip would be complete without some Bob Marley - high tide, low tide!
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I submit “Island in the Sun” by Harry Belafonte, to get that Caribbean feeling.
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Can’t forget the contemporary “Runaway” by Love and Theft!
One of my favorites!↵
