Lothar: one of my long-time, feverdream mix tape plans has been the Western Road Trip tape.
I've been through *so* many song lists, I get flummoxed. I'll try not to geek out.
I second "Lonely Highways" and the whole damn "Highway Strip" album. "Long Vermont Roads" also cites country songs and the Mesa Verde.
margin: God, Bruce Springsteen has tons of songs about cars, but I can't think of any off the bat.
Cowboy Junkies (guitar feedback over spacey, slinky bass) covered one:
Mister State Trooper...
Please don't stop me.
Ple-hease, don't stop meee....
on that same album, they did a very similar thing to "Crossroads," the Robert Johnson song.
But you're all overlooking the best:
Wall of fucking Voodoo.
Songs:
"Lost Weekend" (slow and broken noir tale about, well, heading out of town for romance between strangers)
"On Interstate 15" (bouncy cowboy instrumental)
"Morricone Themes" (a medley of "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" and "Hang 'Em High" done with feedback reverb guitar over unstoppable pulsing synthesizer hypno-machine. and, of course, the vibra-slap percussion instrument.)
"Call of the West" (Texas psychosis, with a brilliant spoken word bit in the middle, "the conflict," as the old hand tells the green newcomer/narrator what being a real Texan is all about - lyrics here.)
There's a surf band called Death Valley that does some *great* Morricone covers & Morricone-esque songs. They'll take some looking for.
I've mentioned his name three times so far. That should be a hint.
The transcendent Western Road Trip glory of Ennio MORRICONE.
There was a recent-ish reissue of almost every Western soundtrack he ever composed, included the pre-Sergio Leone ones (goofy songs -as in, sung by an early 60s crooner - include "A Gringo Like Me": Keep one hand on your gun - don't you trust anyone - there's only one kind of man who can trust, that's a dead man - or a gringo like me.
But for your purposes, all you need is the god damned "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" soundtrack - not for the main theme as much as for the other orchestral stuff, like "The Ecstasy of Gold," which will blast you off the blacktop and into Clint Eastwood's cemetery showdown with Eli Wallach AND Lee Van Cleef.
Now (wiping semen off bottom of desk), more songs about road trips.
Tom Waits is an excellent recommendation, but for fuck's sake, you skipped the *only* one for a road trip to Arizona.
Going Out West -
I'm gonna drive all night
Take some speed
I'm gonna wait for the sun
To shine down on me
I cut a hole in my roof
In the shape of a heart
And I'm going out west
Where they'll appreciate me
(picture his backing band as a cross between The Cramps and well, I don't know. Whatever band usually backs up Tom Waits. After listening to The Cramps.)
Shit, now I have to wipe off my desk again.
OK, I once wrote a love song to my car, a VW Dasher. It's called "Dasher," it sounds vaguely like a western theme, and you can hear it here.
I can drive to a place where I can't hear a word
In a language like any that I've ever heard
Faces look strange like ancient road signs
and the lines
on the highways
fade...
And somebody has to mention Ministry's "Jesus Built My Hotrod"
("Where you come from - is gawn! Where you're goin to - weren't never there! And where you're at - ain't no good 'less you can GIT AWAY!"). Oh, wait. Somebody did. Anyway, I second it.
Brother in Metal, do not overlook AC/DC's "Highway to Hell."
Man Or Astro-Man? do a few car songs: the best is called (I *think*) "Nitro-burning Funny Car". I got it on a Rounder Records compilation of instrumental rock called "Beyond the Beach." It samples some guy talking about cars fetting "blown all to hell" and there's a musical quotation of Van Halen's "Panama" in the middle of it (they basically play the background to the bridge).
On this page, you'll find a few good road songs (The Heptanes, Buckeye, Work of Saws, Alessandroni).
Also, I have a copy of an album collecting trucker songs from the late 50s. It is entitled (after the Red Sovine song) "Diesel Smoke and Dangerous Curves." This is a winning song.
"King of the Road" by Roger Miller, or Randy Travis (soundtrack of Bill Paxton's movie "Traveller"), or REM.
"Brand New Cadillac" by the Clash.
Oh, and if you do not start your tape with Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers' "Roadrunner," which is the first and last word in driving with the radio on, then, sir, you are a fool. |
