A lot has been written on the subject of travel tunes.  World Hum created a list of the top 40 travel songs  and not to be outdone, Matador created their own list of 30 songs and later added 25 (non-cliched) travel songs.  Taking it a step further, Girl, Unstoppable then chimed in with a list of travel songs by female artists and Gadling published a list of travel-inspired songs from the 1980′s. 

Well, I decided to jump on the bandwagon and create my own list.  Some of my favorite travel-themed songs have already been mentioned (like ”Road Trippin’” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and “Like a Rolling Stone” by Bob Dylan), so in the interest of being original, I’ve compiled a list of seven songs that as far as I know, are under-the-radar enough to not have made it onto anyone else’s travel play-list yet. 

I’ll be driving to Los Angeles tomorrow and will likely spend a good portion of the seven-hour drive stuck in traffic.  So I figured I’d create a roadtrip soundtrack that’s calming and on the mellow side. 

Enjoy!

“Dusseldorf” by Regina Spektor

Sample Lyrics: 
“In Montpelier I stayed in a chateau
A boy climbed into my bed and he knew no boundaries
In Amsterdam I got quite crazy
It might have been all the tulips and canals
Or it might have been all that hash…”

“Vagabond” by Wolfmother

Sample Lyrics:  “I go out walking all day long / Take this away this lonely man soon he will be gone / Cause I’ll tell you everything about living free.”  

“Holiday in Spain” by The Counting Crows

Sample Lyrics:

“I may take a holiday in Spain
Leave my wings behind me
Drink my worries down the drain
And fly away to somewhere new…”

“Plane” by Jason Mraz

Sample Lyrics:

“Clean out the reds in my eyes to get by security lines
Dear x-ray machine
Pretend you don’t know me so well
I wont tell if you lied…”

“Paris” by Yael Naim

You might recognize Yael from her song “New Soul” which was used in an Apple Macbook commercial.

Sample Lyrics:

The lyrics are in French and Hebrew (the singer is Israeli) but here’s an English translation: 

“I fled to a different place / So quickly / The farthest away and I succeeded / I am in Paris / The lights are gray and foggy / I am happy and it’s good for me / But I’m so cold / In Paris.”

“Driftwood” by Travis

Sample Lyrics:“Home is where your heart is / But your heart had to roam / Drifting over bridges / Never to return.”

“Sail Away” by David Gray

Sample Lyrics:

“Crazy skies all wild above me now
Winter howling at my face
And everything I held so dear
Disappeared without a trace…”

“Beach in Hawaii” by Ziggy Marley

Sample Lyrics:

“I wish you were here with me, walking on the beach in Hawaii
playing on the golden sand, looking at the ocean now I understand
love is like the open sea, and I wish you were here with me
on the beach in Hawaii…”

Related posts:

1. Decorating Ideas for Travel Addicts: Map Art
2. Decorating Ideas for Travel Addicts: Travel-Themed Collage
3. Travel, Soul Mates and a Book about Mormons
4. Travelogged: This Week’s Top Pics and Posts for Travel Addicts
5. Decorating Ideas for Travel Addicts: Paris vs New York Postcard Collage

Tagged: Travel Songs