Get Your Kicks on Route 66

I have CD’s with at least three different versions of Route 66, all in different styles, all of which I like. First, there’s the version by Manhattan Transfer; laid back tempo, cool jazz piano, great bass line and their trademark harmony. Then, there’s Nat King Cole: piano and bass, a nice jazz guitar solo and Nat’s ultra cool voice. But my favorite is by *Asleep At The Wheel*; big, brash boogi-woogie piano and brass section, with a western swing twang with Big Ray & Co (sorry, no online sample, but it was the one used in a motel commercial recently).

What is your favorite version of this icon of hip?

I’ll always be partial to the Stones’ version on their (US) album December’s Children – partly because it’s the first one I heard, and partly because it gives a good feel for the energy of the band and their audience circa 1965 – and for the Stones’ deep love and respect for American music and geography.

Ooh, I forgot about that one, nice call.There’s a sample of it on Amazon.

Depeche Mode. I generally hate ‘depresso-rock’ but that version kicks ass.

Nice one, got that driving down the desert highway beat. Sample on Amazon.

I also like the “beatmasters remix” of Depeche Mode’s version. Good dance version.

Stones. It was the first version I heard, and since I saw the Stones in San Bernardino way back when, it just seems…proper. :smiley:

I saw The Plimsouls play a badass cover of it live in 1981. I don’t think it’s available on any of their recordings.

Funny thing about that Stones version: isn’t Jagger singing “Moscow” instead of “Barstow”?

Many people know this, but “Route 66” was written by the guy who played Dr. Joe Early on the old “Emergency!” TV show.

That would be the seminal Bobby Troup version.

Triva: the Stones’ version is regarded to have been the very first FM broadcast on the BBC.

Nelson Riddle’s cool version, as found on the very listenable Ultra Lounge series.

Actually, that is not a version of Bobby Troups’s Route 66, but an original theme Nelson Riddle wrote for the TV series, Route 66, which aired from 1960-64. Very cool, though.

I like **Chuck Berry’s ** version.