History Main / DrivingSong

''It feels so good (so good) to be alive!''\\

%%* Creator/WillSmith: "Just Cruisin'"

* Rod Hart's "C.B. Savage", a spoof of "Convoy", features a convoy of truckers suddenly getting a transmission on their radios from a flaming gay man ("Seen any Smokey Bears? Or maybe some bare Smokeys?"). As the song winds down, the voice suddenly changes fron gay to straight and officious as it belonged to a police officer who calls for his squad to shut down the convoy.

* The Medallions: "59 Volvo", "Buick 59", "Coupe De Ville Baby", "Push Button Automobile" and "Speedin'"

* Yello: "The Race"

* Music/{{Madness}}: "Driving in my Car" (also has elements of TheAllegedCar)

* ''Music/{{Atmosphere}}'': "Free or Dead"
** To a lesser extent, "Aspiring Sociopath" as well, since it's about a man who fantasizes about abandoning his crappy life and driving away from it all. "''He loves the drive more than he loves being alive, and this town doesn't even know his real name''"
* ''Music/BeastieBoys'': "No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn" doubles as both this and a RockStarSong; it features the Boys boasting about their careers as musicians while driving their tour bus from show to show.
* Creator/WillSmith: "Just Cruisin'"

* Music/PaulMcCartney and Music/{{Wings}}: "Helen Wheels"

* C. W. [=McCall=]: "Film/{{Convoy}}"

* Julie Robertss: "Break Down Here," about driving away from a relationship in a dying car and hoping that she doesn't break down--[[DualMeaningChorus both literally and figuratively.]]

-> '''Ruff:''' My name is Ruff\\
And All I ask\\
is when you you drive\\
you don't multitask
-->-- ''WesternAnimation/FetchWithRuffRuffman'', "Just Drive"

-> '''Patrick:''' Road! Road! Road! Road!\\
'''Spongebob:''' When I'm on the road\\
I see stuff going by!\\
When I'm on the road\\
'''Patrick:''' I got a bug in my eye!
-->-- ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'', "[[Recap/SpongebobSquarepantsS8E7ASquarePantsFamilyVacation A Squarepants Family Vacation]]"

-> '''Ruff:''' My name is Ruff\\
And All I ask\\
is when you you drive\\
you don't multitask
-->-- ''WesternAnimation/FetchWithRuffRuffman'', "Just Drive"

-> '''Patrick:''' Road! Road! Road! Road!\\
'''Spongebob:''' When I'm on the road\\
I see stuff going by!\\
When I'm on the road\\
'''Patrick:''' I got a bug in my eye!
-->-- ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'', "[[Recap/SpongebobSquarepantsS8E7ASquarePantsFamilyVacation A Squarepants Family Vacation]]"

* As shown above on ''Series/ImpracticalJokers'', this was Q's punishment for failing this episode, which involved him [[CruelAndUnusualPunishment being forced to drive to a number of far-away locales, all with a crowd of muppets singing a deliberately-obnoxious song on repeat]]... for ''eleven hours''.

* Music/{{Rush}}: "Red Barchetta" and "Ghost Rider," which is about hitting the road to escape from a personal tragedy, based on Neil Peart's personal experience. Overlaps with WanderlustSong.

* "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" is a blues standard covered by everyone from Music/ChuckBerry to Music/TheRollingStones to John Mayer.

* Sammy Hagar: "I Can't Drive 55" combines this with ProtestSong as he's protesting the speed limit. The song tells of how he got pulled over for speeding and then complains about how minding the speed limit hinders him.

* C. W. [=McCall=]: "Convoy"

* John Denver: "Take Me Home, Country Roads" is mostly about West Virginia, but it is also about the country road that is taking John Denver home.

-->-- '''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants''', ''[[Recap/SpongebobSquarepantsS8E7ASquarePantsFamilyVacation "A Squarepants Family Vacation"]]''

Songs about cars, driving, open highways, speed ''[[GratuitousLatin et al]]''. Very common from US based artists due to the heavy car culture in the States: teens can start driving at 14 in some states so driving is a common cultural touchstone from a younger age than elsewhere. A disproportionate amount of these songs take place either in the south if it's country, or California if it's any other genre due to the prevalence of highways over public transit systems.

Some people see road trips across the US in motorcycle or car as a coming-of-age milestone that's fondly remembered. Youthful road trips in the US aren't generally done because there's no mass-transit alternatives, but because of the freedom they represent to wander around alone on your own (non-)schedule rather than with a bunch of people on a train schedule. There's a popular romanticism to just driving wherever you want for your own pleasure, that is very distinct from day-to-day necessary transport from point A to B, at least in US culture. Most of these songs reflect this aspect of driving as pure recreation, and possibly some sort of wanderjahr-ish self-discovery

Counterpart trope to CarSong: that trope is about the love of cars or a car in particular, this trope is about the love of driving, cruising and occasionally speeding. See also WanderlustSong, which has some overlap--Wanderlust Song is about the need in general to get away, while Driving Song is about driving as an end in itself. See also RoadMovie, which is a similar trope in another medium. Compare TrainSong.

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-->The land of race car ya yas
-->The land where you can't change lanes
-->The land where [[CompensatingForSomething large fuzzy dice still hang proudly like testicles]] from rear view mirrors

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-->Acceleration I gotta, gotta go faster / Give me more speed
-->They say I'm crazy and I'm headed for disaster / Give me more speed

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* Julie Robertss: "Break Down Here," about driving away from a relationship in a dying car and hoping that she doesn't break down--[[DualManingChorus both literally and figuratively.]]

* Sawyer Brown: "Six Days on the Road"

* Music/MelissaEtheridge: "You Can Sleep While I Drive" (also famously CoveredUp by Music/TrishaYearwood)