It seems like every band or singer has them: songs about life on the road, going town to town and playing the music they love for their fans. Off the top of my head I’ve got:
• The Load Out/Stay – Jackson Browne
• Homeward Bound – Simon & Garfunkle
• Against the Wind – Bob Seger
• Rock and Roll Band – Boston
• The Entertainer – Billy Joel
What ones can you come up with?
Route 66
Thunder Road
Midnight Rider
On the Road Again
Shouldn’t the Seger one be “Turn the Page?” “Against the Wind” is more like a mid-life retrospective.
Goin’ Mobile by The Who is somewhat of a road song: “Watch the police and the tax man miss me, I’m mobile.”
Highway Song- Blackfoot
Heading Out to the Highway- Judas Priest
Maybe I wasn’t clear in my OP. I’m not looking for songs about hitting the road in general. I meant about the singer or band touring on the road.
Highway Song would still fit, the Priest song, no.
CCR’s “Travelin’ Band”?
Truckin’ - The Grateful Dead:
Sittin and starin out of the hotel window.
Got a tip theyre gonna kick the door in again
Id like to get some sleep before I travel,
But if you got a warrant, I guess youre gonna come in.
When I Need You - Leo Sayer:
But you know I won’t be travelin forever
Its cold out, but hold out, and do I like I do
When I need you
What’s Your Name - Lynyrd Skynyrd:
9 oclock the next day
And Im ready to go
I got six hundred miles to ride
To do one more show, oh no
Travelin’ Band - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Playin in a travelin band. yeah!
Well, Im flyin cross the land, tryin to get a hand,
Playin in a travelin band.
200 More Miles - Cowboy Junkies
Atlanta’s a distant memory
Montgomery a recent blur
And Tulsa burns on the desert floor
Like a signal fire
Also by Cowboy Junkies, Townes’ Blues, about an unlucky roadie.
*…Boulder looks like the type of town
That I could spend some time,
But in Houston they got our name in lights
You’re clean as a widow woman’s washboard, son,
The slab is yours tonight
Townes is in the back lounge
With his hands in his pocket
Pulls out two dice and says, “Let’s get at it”…*
How about:
Lynyrd Skynyrd: “Sweet Home Alabama”
Big wheels keep on turnin’
Carry me home, see my kin
Singin’ songs about the Southland
Miss old family once again…
Journey: “Faithfully”
.…Circus life
Under the big top world
We all need the clowns
To make us smile…
Ian Hunter, with the humourous look at life on the road: “Once bitten twice shy”
*Well the times gettin hard for you little girl
Im a hummin and a strummin all over gods world
*
Sgt Schwartz
Speaking of unlucky roadies, there’s:
Tonight’s the Night - Neil Young:
Bruce Berry was a working man
He used to load that econoline van.
A sparkle was in his eye
But his life was in his hands.
Things don’t tun out well for Bruce…
And for another traveling band song, there’s:
Back on the Road - Earth, Wind, & Fire:
Since the day that my life began
A band has been my true life plan
Time to get back on the road
Feel the music, take the stand
The Kinks’ The Road:
Started playing blues in a coffee bar
I took a trip down Charing Cross Road
With my imitation Gretsch guitar
And my head full of songs and my eyes full of stars
I saw a band called the Rolling Stones
I thought, “that’s it, I’ll get a band,
I’m leaving home, I’m out on the road.”
The Living Bubba - Drive By Truckers:
Don’t give me no pity don’t give me no grief
Wait til I die for sympathy
Just help me with this amp and a guitar or two
I can’t die now cuz I got another show to do
“My Home’s in Alabama” by Alabama
“California Girls” by the Beach Boys
Just thought of a couple others.
Grand Funk Railroad: “We’re an American Band”
On the road for forty days,
Last night in Little Rock put me in a haze…
Also, CCR’s “Lodi”
The man from the magazine said I was on my way.
Somewhere I lost connections, ran out of songs to play.
I came into town, a one night stand, looks like my plans fell through
Oh ! Lord, Stuck in Lodi again.
Mmmm…
If I only had a dollar, for ev’ry song I’ve sung.
And ev’ry time I’ve had to play while people sat there drunk.
You know, I’d catch the next train back to where I live.*
Sgt Schwrtz
Another one from The Kinks, “Motorway”:
“Can’t Hardly Wait” – The Replacements
Making Memories by Rush
Well you know we’re having good days
And we hope they’re gonna last
What’cha Gonna Do by Cowboy Mouth
St Louis, Hot Summer
Got the sudden urge to call my number
I feel it, another scene is going down down down
Wake by Emmet Swimming
Play good soliders march in perfect rows
Take discomfort silently
The Bride Stripped Bare by “Bachelors”* by the Bonzo Dog Band
Rhythm of the Road
Driving down the highway miles from home
It’s been that way since the day we started to roam.