With Ashley going home for the week, and Quin traveling abroad, we thought a fun theme this week would be our go-to road trip songs. These intern picks are upbeat, nostalgic, and perfect for your next road trip.
Quinn’s Pick – “Texarkana” by R.E.M.
As a seasoned road-tripper, there are so many songs that are fit for the trip. I make the twelve-hour drive home often, so having great music is essential to keep me going. While I cycle through hundreds of songs along the way, there is only one that truly encapsulates my drive: “Texarkana” by R.E.M. It is catchy, has the perfect twang, and never gets old, no matter how many times I hit repeat. It is my favorite song to play while driving through Texarkana as it reminds me to enjoy the journey itself, not just focus on the destination. The song explores themes of searching, longing, and the tension between moving forward and finding peace. The track is featured on the band’s seventh LP, Out of Time, which played a major role in catapulting R.E.M. to mainstream success. Beyond its placement on a landmark album, the song itself captures the emotional rhythm of a road trip.
The lyrics evoke a sense of distance and motion, which fits perfectly with a long road trip. The opening line, “Twenty-thousand miles to an oasis,” feels tailored for the road, echoing the quiet determination of a long journey. This R.E.M. song is particularly special because it was primarily written by Mike Mills, and he also sings lead on the track. When listening to Mills’ lyrics, it feels like he is describing a long journey filled with missed chances to stop along the way. He keeps moving forward, searching for something specific he may never actually find. That longing gives the song a sense of quiet persistence and emotional depth. “Texarkana” has the classic R.E.M. sound, particularly notable in the guitar work of Peter Buck and the bass line of Mike Mills.
Listen to “Texarkana” below!
Quin’s Pick — “Cold Turkey” by John Lennon
The road trip song is, to me, a song that is endlessly classic. Whatever that means! It is the sound of weaving between semi-trucks on the highway, gas station McDonalds, and intentional dehydration. As someone who semi-frequently finds themselves on drives that total around the six-hour mark, I find myself very equipped to tackle this week’s intern pick.
In all honesty, while I have listened to just about every kind of music on long car rides, there are songs that undeniably feel like they were made for the road. For my intern pick this week, the song that keeps calling me back to this prompt is “Cold Turkey” by John Lennon! For me, it fulfills everything I need for a road trip song. We have screaming overdriven blues guitar, classic vocals with great harmonies, and a simple bass line to hold it all down. What does it for me though, is that classic Lennon strangeness. The shrieks and yelps that end the song in a cacophonous uproar, followed by a weird sample I can’t quite make out, strike the perfect balance of strange and classic that I need for a road trip!
Take a listen to “Cold Turkey” below!
Darci’s Pick — “Black Math” by The White Stripes
Despite the fact that I do not drive, I take road tripping extremely seriously. When one is constantly stationed in the passenger’s seat, you have a lot of responsibilities, including being on cow-spotting duty, counting down the minutes to the nearest Buc-ees, and of course, curating the perfect road trip playlist on the fly. Personally, the ideal road trip song is nostalgic, upbeat, and an absolute banger. When looking at my go-to road trip genre of 2000’s garage-rock, my pick would have to be “Black Math” by The White Stripes.
Appearing on The White Stripes’ iconic 2003 album, Elephant, “Black Math” is fast-paced, noisy, and a prime example of the duo’s electrifying musicality. Contrasting the track’s uptempo energy, “Black Math” includes one of my favorite breakdowns of all time, which never fails to get my head banging. With its raw production and urgent nature, “Black Math” is a dynamic hype-up song for spending hours on the road.
Listen to “Black Math” below!
