Chorus: The Americana Road Trip Soundtrack - Top 100 Road Trip Songs

Every road trip has it's own soundtrack and on a rainy day, driving through the endless never-changing landscape of Texas, we tried to come up with our personal Top 10, then, quickly realising that a Top 10 is almost impossible, expanded the task to a Top 20, Top 50, till we finally settled on a Top 100 favourite songs.

one - two - three - four

The Road Trip Playlist

Sergio Mendes - Cristal Illusions

MGMT – Time To Pretend

Ween – Japanese Cowboy & Buenos Tardes Amigos

Lou Reed – Satellite Of Love

Beach Boys – God Only Knows

Aaron Neville – Hercules

Ryan Adams – New York

Chris Isaac - Wicked Game

John Spencer Blues Explosion – Bell Bottoms

De La Soul – Ring Ring Ring

The Stone Roses – Waterfall

Paul Weller – Wild Wood

The Primitives – Through The Flowers

Beastie Boys – Intergalactic Planetary & Shake Your Rump

PJ Harvey – C’mon Billy & A Perfect Day Elise

O.D.B. – Raw

Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit

Bomb The Bass – Beat D’is

Buffalo Springfield – Mr. Soul

Radiohead –Paranoid Android

Ennio Morricone – Once Upon A Time In The West

Redd Cross – Jimmy’s Fantasy

Pharrel & Snoop Dogg – Beautiful

Bobby Womack – 110th Street

John McCrae – Rock You Baby

Violent Femmes – Blister In The Sun

The Gun Club – Sex Beat

Pizzaman – Sex On The Streets

Roky Erickson– Burn The Flames

Pixies – Gigantic

Pulp – Common People

The Beatles – Tomorrow Never Knows

Nick Drake – River Man

Depeche Mode – Everything Counts In Large Ammounts

Camera Obscura – French Navy

Go Team – Bottle Rocket

Filthy Dukes – What Happens Next

LCD Sound System – North American Scum

The Cure – Killing An Arab

Bat For Lashes – Daniel

Archie Bronson Outfit – Dead Funny & Cherry Lips

Kraftwerk – Trans Europa Express

Girlschool – C’mon Let’s Go!

Rainbow – Kill The King

Deep Purple – Highway Star

Van Halen – Jump

Manfred Man’s Earth Band – California

Beck – Lonesome Tears

Barry Manilow – Mandy

Seasick Steve – Doghouse Blues

The Birds – 8 Miles High

The Fall – How I Wrote Elastic Man

Smashing Pumpkins – 1979

Prince – When Doves Cry

Supertramp – Breakfast In America

Tom Petty – Learning To Fly

Arlo Guthrie – Coming Into Los Angeles

Jefferson Airplane – I Saw You

Ideal – Eiszeit

ELO – Turn To Stone

The Cramps – Bikini Girls With Machine Guns & Kizmiaz

The Stray Cats – Rumble In Brighton


Frenzy – Clockwork Toy

Supergrass – Sun Hits The Sky

Falco – Junge Roemer

Waterboys – The Whole Of The Moon

Donna Summer – I Feel Love

Cake – I Will Survive

Adam Green – Jessica Simpson

AC/DC – Girls Got Rhythm

Boney M – Daddy Cool

Chris Isaac – Wicked Game

CSS – Let’s Make Love & Listen To Death From Above

The Pogues – A Pair Of Brown Eyes

The Beautiful South – A Little Time

Yo La Tengo – Autumn Sweater

REM & Patti Smith – Ebow The Letter

Led Zeppelin – The Song Remains The Same

Abba – Dancing Queen

Blondie – Presence Dear

Supermax – Love Machine

Kate Bush – Cloud Busting

Massive Attack – Unfinished Sympathy

Outkast – Shake It

Dead Kennedys – Holiday In Cambodia

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Red Right Hand

Oasis – Live Forever

Smog – Hit The Ground Running & Dress Sexy At My Funeral

The Breeders – Driving On 9

Dexy’s Midnight Runners – Tell Me When My Light Turns Green

The Smiths – There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

Gene Vincent & The Blue Cats – Cat Man

The Housmartins – Happy Hour & Caravan Of Love

Happy Mondays – Loose Fit & Kinky Afro

Sonic Youth – Incinerate

The Flaming Lips & Sparklehorse – Go

Copter – Testify

Neil Diamond – The Grass Won’t Pay No Mind

Minnie Ripperton – Les Fleurs

Arctic Monkeys – You Look Good On The Dancefloor

Blur – The Universal

Soft Cell – Tainted Love / Where Did Our Love Go?

Elastica – Line Up

Sparks – Number One Song In Heaven

Electric Prunes – Too Much To Dream Last Night

The Byrds – Eight Miles High

American Analog Set - The Oly One

Jacuzzi Boys - Island Ave

Refused - New Noise

British Sea Power - Waving Flags

William Shatner - Rocket Man

Noah and the Whale – Blue Skies (Death to the Throne Remix)

Ideal - Berlin

The Bedroom Philosopher – I'm So Post Modern

Dinosaur Jr – I Want You To Know & Freak Scene

The Wannadies – You And Me Song

Dead Moon – Dead Moon Night

2raumwohnung – Wir Trafen Uns In Einem Garten

Elastica – 2:1

Peter and the Test Tube Babies – The Jinx

Leila K – Got To Get

Arms - Shitty Little Disco

Shiny Gnomes - Lazing at Desert Inn

Cocorosie – Japan

The International Noise Conspiracy - Capitalism Stole My Virg

Thee Headcoatees – My Boyfriend's Learning Karate

Owen Gray – Apollo 12

Nouvelle Vague – Friday Night Saturday Morning

Fad Gadget- Collapsing New People

Radiohead – Cinnamon Girl

dEUS – Suds & Soda

Hasil Adkins – The Wild Man

The Legendary Shack Shakers – Shake Your Hips

Angriff aufs Schlaraffenland – Die Radierer

OMC - On The Run

Cake - Long Line Of Cars & I Will Survive

At The Drive-In – Invalid Litter Dept.

Batmobile – Ballroom Blitz

Guana Batz - Rock and Roll (Led Zep Cover)

Violent Femmes – Crazy

Judge Dread – The Belle Of Snodland Town

Beirut – Elephant Gun

Whale - Hobo Humpin Slobo Babe

The Whitest Boy Alive - Island

The Dells - Stay In My Corner

Lonnie Smith - Son Of Ice Bag

Jurassic 5 - In The Flesh

Neil Young - Cortez The Killer

Jimmy McGriff - Chriss Cross

Dave and Ansel Collins - Double Barrel


We also listen to tons of Reggae, Dub, 60s Soul and Rockabilly. But that's another list. Like this one:


The "Robert Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country List"

Memphis Jug Band - On The Road Again

Blind Willie McTell - Dark Night Blues

Cannon's Jug Stompers - Minglewood Blues

Skip James - Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues

Jaybird Coleman - I'm Gonna Cross The
River Jordan

Charley Patton - High Water Everywhere

Frank Stokes - I Got Mine

"Dock" Boggs - Sugar Baby

Shelor Family - Big Bend Gal

Hayes Shepherd - The Peddler And His Wife

Crockett's Country Mountaineers - Little Rabbit

Burnett & Rutherford - All Night Long Blues

East Texas Serenaders - Mineola Rag

Weems String Band - Greenback Dollar

Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra - Kater Street Rag

"King" Oliver's Creole Jazz Band - Sobbin' Blues

Parham-Picket Apollo Syncopaters - Mojo Strut

Frankie Franko & His Louisianians - Somebody Stole My Gal

Clarence Williams' Blue Five - Wild Cat Blues

"Jelly Roll" Morton's Red Hot Peppers - Kansas City Stomps

Jimmy Noone - King Joe

..and of course this one ; ]

Verse 6: Highway 1 - Pigeon Point to Big Sur

Tuesday 5th Jan. The clear skies and sunny weather continued so we got a stunning, fresh sunrise at Pigeon Point and finally got to see where we were. It felt a million miles from the noise and traffic of San Francisco despite only being an hour out of the city.

The lighthouse is graceful and a very distinct landmark along the cliffs, it looked all the more beautiful for the soft, early morning light. Got up early, had some porridge, took some pics of the rising sun.

 

 

We continued along Highway 1, towards the Big Sur via Santa Cruz, briefly checking out the magnificent old roller coaster which was closed for the season. There’s always something charming and slightly melancholic about seaside resorts in the winter, they fall into hibernation and signs of life are few and far between... until you scratch beneath the surface. Move away from the sea front and see what the locals are up to. Unfortunately we are on a road trip and just passing through so we didn't have time to find out what was going on in this pretty town but enjoyed it's retro splendour none the less.

Just after Santa Cruz we took a minor detour to a good ol’ tourist con – The Mystery Spot. A place where trees grow in corkscrew formations (that’s a bit of an exaggeration – more like a gentle twist), balls roll up hill and short people get to be taller than their tall friends!

It’s quite obviously one of those great American swindle myths that have been really well constructed and marketed, but it’s really fun – especially if you have the quirky, very sharp witted guide that took us round and did the spiel. It’s a good place for silly photos and is in a pleasantly wooded spot. I was disappointed that none of the tricks made me taller than Ingo though.

 

 

 

 
We continued on our way and briefly passed through Monterey (famous for the Jazz fest) and Pacific Grove. We briefly stopped off in Pacific Grove to check out an area of Eucalyptus wood that is well known as a winter haven for Monarch butterflies. Most years there are 10s of thousands of these beautiful butterflies dripping from the branches of the trees but unlucky for us there was only a few hundred or so scattered around this year. Thankfully there was a lady with a telescope who let us take a peek at a group that had gathered high in the branches of a particularly tall tree. They looked like shards of delicate stained glass as the sun shone through their wings, which only open up once the temperature gets to 13°C (55°F). Apparently the best time to see them is around 4pm on a balmy afternoon when they get a little more active. It was still a lovely sight to see them flitting from branch to branch. It was also funny watching the people watching the butterflies.

Had lunch in a pleasant little café called Toasties on Lighthouse Ave, it was so warm we sat outside in t-shirt and soaked up some small town rays.

Soon after Pacific Grove and Carmel (which are all part of the Monterey Peninsula) we hit the Big Sur coastline. Ninety miles of winding, two lane black top hugging the precarious cliffs as it winds round the headlands, fingers of sea mist gradually being burnt off by the sun, sun, sun. Clear blue California sky. Stopping every 10 minutes to take in the incredible vistas. Every time we stopped we could see hundreds of seals in the water, little black heads bobbing in and out of the water, calling and honking out to each other. Over impressive steel bridges spanning deep canyons, past steep slopes covered in waving Pampas grasses, glimpses of huge remote glass and wood houses built high up on the mountains (and even more incredible price tags I am sure).

 

 

As the afternoon wore on we crossed into the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, through majestic, coastal Redwood forests with their wonderful alpine scent. It seemed strange to be driving one minute along the sunny Pacific coast and then diving headlong into deeply shaded forest valleys only a few miles away. We decided to check out Pfeiffer Beach for a late afternoon walk and an ocean bound sunset. The turn off is not sign posted so you have to look out very carefully for a small road going off steeply to the right about a mile after the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park ranger station (if you are coming from the north, or left and about one mile before the ranger station if you are coming from the south). After winding our way down Sycamore Canyon Road, which follows a wooded creek right down to the beach, you come to a car park and then walk through some trees out onto the beach. For a moment ingo and I thought we were back in Cornwall, it was so reminiscent of the north coast beaches around Bedruthan Steps. A mile and a half long walk along the sands at the foot of the cliffs, more seals surfing the waves, monumental rocks and arches, pink sand, people playing Frisbee, reading, meditating or just staring out to sea. We felt right at home. The sunset was hidden by a thin bank of clouds on the horizon but the colours and mood of a sunset at sea never disappoint (apart from when you try and capture it in a photograph and end up taking 50 shots of nearly the same thing - yawn).

 

 

 

 

 

After ambling back to the car we drove a few miles onto Deetjens Big Sur Inn, tucked in amongst the Redwoods it was one of the most atmospheric places we have ever stayed in. We chose a beautiful wood paneled cabin called Grandpa’s, with a rocking chair and a wood burning stove and a huge luxurious old bed. One tasty meal later and it was time to snuggle up under the blankets with a glass of champagne. What a lovely way to end the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We even had a harmonium and a guest room..

Verse 7: Big Sur to Santa Barbara

After a really good and cosy sleep in our lovely wooden cabin (called Grandpa's Room) at Deetjen's Big Sur Inn, it was champagne in bed and up early for another mega breakfast.

 

 

  

Our cosy cabin bottom right and on to the breakfast room...

 

  

Mr B's perfect breakfast, poached eggs not ice-cream by the way.

  

Mrs B's Eggs Benedict, mmm lip smackingly good, just add Tobasco.

We decided that this was not enough food and added bacon...

 

It was only half way through this gigantic plate of food that Mrs B realised that she had meant to order the half portion. After several pauses and coffee refills, she struggled on and managed to clear the plate of every morsel. Praise the Lord for stretch jeans!

So after that wonderful breakfast it was back to the winding Big Sur and another gorgeous day of blue sky, sunshine and t-shirt temperatures.

 

The car and Mrs B.

The person who owns this letter box probably has a view something a little like this:

We stopped several times to take in the incredible view of the mountains cascading into the Pacific. At one stop there was a honky tonk chorus from hundreds of seals on the beach below. Pulling up just after us was a friendly New Zealand family touring in an RV, one of the children was more interested in playing Nintendo than the epic nature on display.

Look closely (click on the pics for larger image), all those rocks are actually seals... big fat and lazy looking until they dragged themselves into the water where they became graceful and playful.

 

As we drove we kept an eye out for tell tales signs of the elusive Gray Whales which migrate south along the Californian coast in the winter months between December and early February. Mrs B was determined that we would see them without having to go on an expensive tour (although if you have time it is probably worth doing this to get really up close). An excited shout and a grab of Mr B's arm as he drove... a bushy spout of water! Yes... Gray Whales, not just one but three travelling together. Now don't get too excited about this picture as we were high up on the cliffs and the whales are out at sea but we can assure you that these are whales, although when Mrs B later tried to focus the binoculars she only managed to find a large log and some foamy flotsam.

Actually these could be rocks but we really did see some whales, honest. Our sighting was later affirmed when we bumped into the NZ family again and they excitedly asked us if we had seen the whales. We said "yes" (although we might also have seen two logs or some rocks). Mrs B is adamant that she saw the watery spout of a Gray Whale, Mr B was concentrating on the road at the time.

  

There's a beach tucked away in the middle of this picture, no idea how you get down there, or even if you can. I am sure Big Sur is dotted with tiny little bays like this. Apparently there's one called Partington Cove but we missed it and drove on to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park where the fragrant mix of alpine Redwood trees and the tang of the sea on a clear winter's day was a potent mix. 

Our plan had been to take a short hike in the Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park but the trails we wanted to follow were closed due to last summer's fires, bridges collapsed and vulnerable habitat. We should have checked at the State Park Ranger Station the day before in order to replan but hey we're on a roadtrip so who cares. Fortunately we could still do the short and very accessible walk to the viewing platform above the waterfall at McVay Cove, that should at least burn off half an Eggs Benedict, well maybe a quarter, possibly just one poached egg.

And what a site... the waterfall cascades some 80 feet directly into the Pacific Ocean, it looked like a scene out of that 80s classic Blue Lagoon, we half expected a naked Brooke Shields to sashay out from behind the rocks. Instead three young lads had managed to get down onto the beach, or perhaps they were ship wrecked becasue we could not for the life of us see any way down. There are worse places to be stuck.

We walked a little further around the headland to a viewing platform. In front of us and around us tiny metallic shimmering hummingbirds flitted about, shooting at incredible speeds high into the air and dropping like swooping bullets back into the orange flowers.

As with our Gray Whale photo, our camera is not well equppied for nature documentary. However if you look right in the middle of the above photo (click on it to enlarge) there is definitely a tiny green bird there... honestly, go on take a closer look. Oddly it looks quite big in that picture, it was tiny.

Lovely. To top off our day of amazing sightings a UFO appeared on the horizon, it approached gradually then passed over us, as we stood overlooking the waterfall beach, and then continued on its way down the stupendous Big Sur coastline:

 

Eat your hearts out Erich von Daeniken (or if you understand German Twitter him), Robbie Williams and Peter Andre!

On the way back to the car Mr B entered a dark tunnel

 

and disappeared in a flash of light! We had found the Big 'Sur'chedelic Tunnel (see what we did there?)

This really happened, believe everything you see.

Eventually Mr B reappeared and we got back in the car and drove off down the road. 

After many wonderful winding sunny miles, the steep cliffs and deep headlands and canyons started to give way to shaggy hillsides and the floor of the Pacific Valley section of Highway 1 and eventually onto rolling dunes and hills.

 

It was around 2.30pm by the time we hit the sandy dunes and soft grass covered hills just north of San Simeon and Hearst Castle. The highway was now at sea level with the lush, hilly meadows to our left. Suddenly to our right we caught a glimpse of the beach - what were those big blubbery shapes just beyond the shallow dunes. Some way up ahead we could see cars parked up along the road and as we got closer throngs of people lining the narrow path that snaked along the top of the dunes right on the beach. We jumped out of the car and were hit by the almighty stench of defacating animals and the rumble and raucous barking of some seriously large mammals. 

A male Elephant Seal shows off his probiscus to his harem of females.

Only to be outshone by a battle royale further up the beach between two HUGE males. Amazingly no one else seemed to have noticed these two mammoths bellowing and battering at each other so Mr B and I hotfooted it along the path to the end of the beach to get a front row seat of this amazing spectacle.  Using our highly technical nature documentary camera, which had earlier that day captured whales, hummingbirds, a man disappearing and a UFO, we managed to capture this remarkable footage for you. 

Time for Mr and Mrs B's 'Life on Earth: Smelly Majestic Mammals'

After our brush with the Elephant Seals we hopped 8 miles down the road to Hearst Castle an incredible manmade fantasy vision, after the miles of awe inspiring nature. We could see the Disney like turrets peeking over the hilltops from some distance. Hearst Castle was conceived, built and lived in by William Randolph Hearst a latter day Rupert Murdoch who partied in the Castle with Hollywood greats including Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin and Cary Grant. Simply spiffing dahling.

Another 'we make mistakes so you don't have to' moment now. If you want to actually go right into Hearst Castle you have to book a tour in advance, even in winter... as we found out the wrong way i.e all sold out for the entire day. So we had to join other groups of disorganised road trippers and tourists in just staring up at the Castle from the visitor centre as it lorded over us up in the hills, with its magnificent Mediterranean Revival architecture and sheer camp presence.

 

The visitor centre is free but miles from the castle, you have to get a bus to the actual castle and you can only do this if you have a tour ticket, of which there are 13 possibilites, each of varying cost and duration. We satisfied ourselves with the information in the free visitor centre and an envious gaze up to the castle. We also took in the glamourous dramatisation of William Randolph Hearst's life. Shown in the onsite IMAX cinema this was a tale of success, money, hard work and most importantly 'the building of a dream', a phrase repeated at around a rate of six times per minute. The title of the movie was Hearst Castle - Building the Dream. It was dramatic, slick, glamourous and full of sweeping strings crescendoing and pulsing tear inducing theta-waves across the audience. So much so that I felt the compelling urge to stand up, punch the air and leading the audience through the Star Spangled Banner.

Dramatic license aside it did look pretty amazing and it's an interesting place with a very glamourous history. We would love to go back and see the castle up close some day.

After coffee and a hot chocolate, accompanied by a delicious choclate brownie (the first of two brownies that we forgot to photograph, clearly they are just too tempting to wait for a quick snap), we headed onto Santa Barbara. Past San Luis Obispo and the palace of kitsch that is the Madonna Inn (read Charlie Brooker's opinion of this motel that we will definitely stay in if we pass this way again) and on into the sunset to another meeting with strangers trusting enough to host strangers in their own home.

See that small prick of red light, that's an oil rig. Not a UFO.

The road ran by the ocean and skirted round towns and then curved inland towards the coastal mountains of California, carving through hillsides and rugged rock and into darkness. 

Good evening Santa Barbara.

PLEASE KLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING