It’s a bank holiday weekend!
So we’re feeling extra generous this Friday.
We have not one but TWO €25 Golden Discs vouchers to give away to the two best entries who post below with your favourite song about travelling (by bus, plane, car, train, on foot etc) and why.
Here’s mine.
Lines MUST close at 3.45pm EXTENDED until 6am Saturday!
(include video where possible)
Nick says: Good luck!
Sponsored Link
Saw Doctors – N17. Can’t but sing along whenever hear it. Used to love early mornings at electric picnic or Wittness and they’d be one of first bands on.Them or Sunday mass with The Warlords of Pez.
For anyone who has needed to see the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32-WdYOeJLk
I always loved this song
The first that comes to mind on this cold wet morning is Chris Rea’s, ‘Driving Home for Christmas’. It gives me the warm and fuzzies.
Bronski Beat – Smalltown Boy
https://youtu.be/U7-q1WRaKNg
“You leave in the morning with everything you own in a little black case
Alone on a platform, the wind and the rain on a sad and lonely face
Mother will never understand why you had to leave
But the answers you seek will never be found at home
The love that you need will never be found at home”.
Yep. That’s one of the two prizes bagged, if I had any say. Incredible song.
‘Born on a Train’ by the Magnetic Fields, reminding me of a long delayed train to Dublin that finally arrived at Heuston late into the dead of night, after most of us passengers had gone through the Seven Ages of Man during the trip.
https://youtu.be/H95jGsZmzmQ
This is the correct answer
Steve Miller – Jet Airliner
A catchy rock/blues song about a musician who has to leave home to find work but gets homesick at the airport. I think most Irish people can relate to that.
“But my heart keeps calling me backwards
As I get on the 707
Ridin’ high I got tears in my eyes
You know you got to go through hell
Before you get to heaven
Big ol’ jet airliner
Don’t carry me too far away”
https://youtu.be/jlFXhigvTvM
I like Elton John’s Rocketman, the song has a certain sadness to it as the astronaut leave his family to go to space. I also liked the piano rendition that Elton John played paying homage to Bowie’s Space Oddity.
She packed my bags last night pre-flight
Zero hour nine AM
And I’m gonna be high as a kite by then
I miss the earth so much I miss my wife
It’s lonely out in space
On such a timeless flight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqprhVmv3BI
Great choice!
https://youtu.be/ypadKraAb1s
It’s Immaterial – Driving Away From Home
Good choice.
+1
Nice one. Some part of my brain lying dormant since the 80s fired up hearing that again.
“Driving away from home, maybe 30 miles or more, not a care in the world”
30 miles? I guess horizons have expanded a bit since the 80s!
Patsy Cline – Walkin’ after midnight
https://youtu.be/RICeErc0ni8
ah I sing that to me Da
That’s sweet, my ma sings it.
to janet’s da?
When she’s not riding around the coast on his knee.
Driving South – The Stone Roses
A cracking driving tune and cautionary tale
Roll bus roll by Jeffrey Lewis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJmNVC7bn8s
“roll bus roll, take me off, a rolled sweatshirt makes the window soft”
Road to nowhere – talking heads
Winning :-)
you are all wrong, and lightweights to boot. here have some schooling:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ9V5cRSOPg
Winner. Superb Song!
Motorhead’s ‘we are the road crew’ has to be the winner. Relentless, amphetamine fuelled fun, exactly as you would imagine a motorhead tour would be. In fact if Bertie’s small town boy went on tour with motorhead he wouldn’t give a toss about whether his mammy loves him or not.
Spanish Train – Chris de Burgh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnaUvPoiTfQ
No, no, I know, I know, but stay with me here.
Whatever your thoughts on Chris and the bulk of his work, the man can tell a story through music. A what better story, then the classic battle of Good and Evil.
“The sun is down and the night’s riding in”
disqualified
he’s a toxic pox of a human being and everything he’s ever done is utter fupping sh 1t
BB telling like it is.
nonsense, only a genius could come up with this
Dennis is a menace with his “anyone for tennis?”
And beseeching me to come and keep the score
And Maud saya “Oh Lord! I’m so terribly bored!”
I really can’t stand it anymore
I’m going out to dinner, with a gorgeous singer
To a little place I’ve found down by the quay
Her name is Patricia, she calls herself Delicia
And the reason isn’t very hard to see
She says God made her a sinner just to keep fat men thinner
As they tumble down in heaps before her feet
They hang around in groups like battle-weary troops
One can often see them queue right down the street
You see Patricia, or Delicia, not only is a singer
She also removes all her clothing
For Patricia is the best stripper in town
And with a swing of her hips she started to strip
To tremendous applause she took off her drawers
And with a lick of her lips she undid all the clips
Threw it all in the air, and everyone stared
And as the last piece of clothing fell to the floor
The police were banging on the door
On a Saturday night, in nineteen twenty-four
Take it away boys!
But poor Patricia was arrested and everyone detested
The manner in which she was exposed
And later on in court, well, everybody thought
A summer run in jail would be proposed
But the judge said, “Patricia
Or may I say, Delicia
The facts of this case lie before me
Case dismissed, this girl was in her working clothes!”
And with a swing of her hips, she started to strip
To tremendous applause she took off her drawers
And with a lick of her lips she undid all her clips
Threw it all in the air, and everyone stared
And as the last piece of clothing fell to the floor
The police were yelling out for more!
On a Saturday night in nineteen twenty-four
On a Saturday night in nineteen twenty-four
At night I wake up with the sheets soaking wet
And a freight train running through the middle of my head
Only you can cool my desire
Oh oh oh, I’m on fire…
Bruce Springsteen, I’m on fire,
yah baby
There’s loads of Springsteen to choose from, mine would be my hometown. My dad would let me sit on his lap and steer the car home too. It’s a really evocative tune.
ah used to love steering the car around the coast on Dad’s knee, those were the days
First record I ever bought!
The first person to say Fast Car by Tracey gets a talking to
Has to be done!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwrHwZyFN7M
you had to push the big red button didn’t ya
Songs about a destination really. Home. Whatever the reason for the journey you need to know it’s one that can you make. Sometimes though, it’s better to travel hopefully than to arrive.
Anyway here’s the tunes
Yo La Tengo – I feel like going Home.
https://youtu.be/t9hY4dWHguU
Here’s two versions of the glorious Almost Home by Moby and Damien Jurado
The original video
https://youtu.be/QVbD9lKVszE
And live with gospel choir.
https://youtu.be/7-OZbn1MsRc
Truckin’ by the Grateful Dead. A tale of the ups, downs, hazards and random accidents of life on the road.
“Sometimes the light’s all shining on me,
Other times I can barely see.
Lately, it occurs to me,
What a long strange trip it’s been”.
+1
+1 on the moniker also!
Has to be “Driving With The Brakes On” by Del Amitri.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GD_wDWuh5w
A song about abortion (?),
Driving through the long night
Trying to figure who’s right and who’s wrong
Now the kid has gone
about the the shit that life throws at you:-
“When you’re driving with the brakes on
when you’re swimming with your boots on
its hard to say you love someone
and it’s hard to say you don’t”
and a lovesong to boot.
“Nothin’s gonna make me
break from her side”
What more could a body ask for on a rainy Friday afternoon?
The Divine Comedy- National express-
What would best would celebrate the joys of travelling than Neil Hannon’s National express?
The vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc6qFpbAgwM
leaving on a jet plane by john Denver. A very under rated beautiful little song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz32NNMpuW0
https://youtu.be/Ldyx3KHOFXw
Gary Numan* – Cars
* Gary Numan is older than Gary Oldman etc.
I have to nominate “Trainspotters” from Corks finest, The Frank And Walters, from the aptly named album “Trains, Boats and Planes”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucObcQNbcdM
Bill Monroe’s ‘Gotta Travel On’ is one of my favorite songs about travelling. Bluegrass rebel music at its finest.
I’ve laid around and played around this ol’ town too long
Summer’s almost gone and winter’s comin on
High sheriff and police comin after me
And I feel like I gotta travel on
https://youtu.be/hhsVSBS7NZw
My entry is Luka Bloom’s powerful “No Matter Where You Go, There You Are” from his phenomenal album “Innocence”. Here’s a video of him performing it live amongst friends. Check it out if you don’t know it.
https://youtu.be/XGs7eYazKAg
There can only be one, you filthy casuals…
If it was good enough for Fonda and Hopper, it should be good enough for everyone!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsFOKNQxIhQ
Any ol’ hippies out there? Play it loud … play it often … best rendition ever of this amazing Kris Kristofferson classic!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwmUMvhy-lY
I liked that version
Now this is one reason I love these competitions! I never knew this version existed, and I love it. I also did not know Pink did her Sessions, so I will now be checking more of them out!
Thanks for posting this, Malorie, and the musical journey I shall now go on.
On a day like today
How could you not join in
Y Viva españa
I’m taking the Costa Brava plane
Y Viva españa
G’wan Sylvia girl!!!!
https://youtu.be/W7aPp-4z-uw
‘Moonlight Mile’ -The Rolling Stones. A beautiful tender song. It really conjures up feelings of longing on the lonely road at night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugYzDqQtdHU
Kraftwerk- Autobahn
https://youtu.be/gChOifUJZMc
the sound of future past
Well you gassed her up
Behind the wheel
With your arm around your sweet one
In your Oldsmobile
Barrelin’ down the boulevard
You’re looking for the heart of Saturday night.
Tom Waits: (Looking for) The Heart of Saturday Night.
I am sitting this one out as I jut received my own vouchers in the post this morning (Thank you Nick, John and Sinead).
However, I always had a soft spot for the beautiful voice of Dusty Springfield and Going Back
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvWiiUgT8Nk
Or Roger Whittaker, with a toss-up between The Last Farewell or (I Gotta Leave Old) Durham Town (Links in order as mentioned):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGWs1HK8iDU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBdaA8JENzo
The Beatles, back in the USSR
I mean, who even knew what the hell a balalaika was?
Dionne Warwick – Walk on by
https://youtu.be/ijhL9Y7skQs
You are playing a blinder this evening, Bertie! Leaving the rest of us behind :-)
Ah thanks pal :)
No Regrets – The * cough * Walker Brothers…
https://youtu.be/sptQj1MPIwg
My favourite Morrissey song – Speedway
https://youtu.be/7ttFScH3keg
Depeche Mode – Walking in my shoes
https://youtu.be/GrC_yuzO-Ss
Brian Eno – Apollo an Ending (Ascent). One of the most beautiful pieces of music ever…never fails to clear my head. Think it has previously been a winning entry here before, unlike myself https://youtu.be/It4WxQ6dnn0
Supergrass- Moving
https://youtu.be/Q8w81AAK7to
I Travel – Simple Minds
https://youtu.be/_6MwzSaBBQY
Traveling Light – Tindersticks
https://youtu.be/PjSxvv_0CdY
Riding for the Feeling – Bill Callahan
https://youtu.be/hVEoO8UWCT8
Downmarket – The Blades
https://youtu.be/Cw1in4epyvQ
Airline to Heaven – Wilco & Billy Bragg
https://youtu.be/4ZrGCJI3ze4
Brian Eno – Apollo An Ending (Ascent) Beautiful, always works it’s magic and clears my head. Think it was a previous winner in one of these comps, unlike myself!
Down in the Tube Station at Midnight – The Jam
https://youtu.be/hf4EFDGP4yg
10am Gare du Nord – Keaton Henson
https://youtu.be/8LluhRTBk9g
Downbound Train – Kurt Vile
https://youtu.be/X5yckRbebvo
Ca Plane Pour Moi – Plastic Bertrand
https://youtu.be/yQ4i3lQM5lg
Voyage Voyage – Desireless
https://youtu.be/6PDmZnG8KsM
Spencer Davis Group – Keep on running
https://youtu.be/pK0DbgovWZo
Bowie – Always crashing in the same car
https://youtu.be/-m30aaI5Yf8
https://youtu.be/rVXy1OhaERY
Stargazer by Rainbow.
“I see a rainbow rising
Look there on the horizon
And I’m coming home, I’m coming home, I’m coming home”
Station to Station: David Bowie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnEc91KRKrc
Otis and Bertie – it’s like the zoolander dance off… love it!
Which brings us neatly to Two of Us* sung by Aimee Mann and Michael Penn. Bang on topic too.
https://youtu.be/hBgVJMuSh-I
* I first heard this version when it was suggested by Bertie on a Beatles cover version post on Broadsheet. Respect!!
Sincerely, I invariably love the tracks Otis chooses.
Wanna hug it out?
I generally avoid touching other humans where possible. :)
you both post great ones without fail every friday (so thanks for that!) – but I’ll still choose to see it as a camp dance-off if that’s ok
You’re on.
https://images.app.goo.gl/5DZXqsWa3vPhPPMx7
i think you’ve just edged it, otis
Love your work BB!
Neil Young- ‘Albuquerque’ Not the first or last wanting to get away from it all. Great throwback to the yearning sound of the stray gators of Harvest.
I’ve been flyin’
down the road,
And I’ve been starvin’ to be alone,
And independent from the scene
that I’ve known
Been around the world and aye aye aye, I can’t find my baby
As Lisa Stansfield might say, ” by ‘eck it’s a proper belta, like”
I loved the version of this with Barry White!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLOWYAzs9GI
Dedicated to all Dublin cyclists, law-abiding or otherwise;
Pink Floyd – Bike (Syd Barrett)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBCctL88dRk
Love it :)
Terry Callier’s soulful voice really commands attention is this 1964 version of the traditional US folk song “900 Miles” The lonely traveller on the way home https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVTVoMlg5D4
(Dion does a great version too)
With a similar theme, I’d give “500 miles” a mention too (no, not that one!) Another US folk song; Peter Paul and Mary did a version in the 60’s. The version here is from the ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ soundtrack and is based on PP&M’s. Not a Justin Timberlake fan, but this is a nice interpretation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAZJAzCshN4
Or rock it up, Big Country style: 400 miles on Fields of Fire::
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOA2I7Da5vM
And speaking of Scottish bands, anyone yet Pretended to mention 500 miles? I’m Gonna Be tired when I get there!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbNlMtqrYS0
25miles by Edwin Starr would get my vote
Past time and I am out of the biddings anyway, but I just had to share this.
Not my favourite travelling song, but one that really means a lot to me. The film came out at the right time and when we got together, this is the only song so far I have sung with my daughter. She kept correcting me on how it is sung (I cannot sing, so a hopeless act), but still she would sing it with me. As we drove between where she and her mom live and her grandparents she attempted to correct me. One of my favourite road trips with her, although they all were. Corny and all as it is, I love it.
I give you the much maligned, but in my heart loved, Cups song by Anna Kendrick:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmSbXsFE3l8
490,499,183 views and I’d never heard it before!
I like it :)
That’s why I love these threads, they’re a great way to hear stuff you wouldn’t usually.
Why I love these too :)
Any journey should be filled with music, so why not make music the journey?
George Michael – Going to a town
https://youtu.be/8DZJQjn3jV8
A wonderful performance, and Lady Bertie’s favourite song.
No offence to Otis, but for me you are winning it :)
Nightswimming – REM
https://youtu.be/ahJ6Kh8klM4
Two versions of the same song, each with different heartstrings to pull. I prefer the first (Dixie Chicks) but there is something cute about the second (Megan Adams)
I am not a lover of militarism, but this evokes not the love of war, but the love of those left behind while their loved ones go to war, and that I understand.
With that respect, may I give you Trevellin’ Soldier, in two parts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbfgxznPmZM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1IIiID-z9o
Womack & Womack – Teardrops
“Footsteps on the dancefloor….”
https://youtu.be/R8AOAap6_k4
I never liked Womack, I always preferred Womack. Just goes to tell!
Honourable mention, as she does step off the train. Everything But The Girl and Missing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U56Ns66Qrb8
Arcade Fire – Keep the car running
https://youtu.be/q3RcSt_m2Ew
(it’s the one where he smashes the camera at the end….)
And as a verifiable ABBA fan, can I please mention my favourite song of theirs, but which came out at the end of their reign (second last release, if I recall correctly). It mentions trains, and the daily commute, so hopefully it qualifies.
The Day Before You Came:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HnOFwqpLRQ
Ok, the song does not mention it, but the film does! From Cool Runnings: I Can See Clearly!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBpPt56zRpY
Or maybe I can get the correct official video…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrHxhQPOO2c
Here’s the Mark Kozelek Bank Holiday cover version special.
Covering Modest Mouse’s Float on https://youtu.be/gJUinRqwbrA
The Pretenders 2000 Miles https://youtu.be/YwcuNwOIpM8
And Genesis’ Follow You, Follow Me
https://youtu.be/EkbW-vHa8ig
Let us be lovers, we’ll marry our fortunes together
I’ve got some real estate here in my bag
So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner’s pies
And we walked off to look for America
Cathy, I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
Michigan seems like a dream to me now
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
I’ve gone to look for America
Laughing on the bus, playing games with the faces
She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy
I said, be careful, his bowtie is really a camera
Toss me a cigarette, I think there’s one in my raincoat
We smoked the last one an hour ago
So I looked at the scenery
She read her magazine
And the moon rose over an open field
Cathy, I’m lost, I said though I knew she was sleeping
And I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
They’ve all come to look for America
All come to look for America
All come to look for America
Simon and Garfunkel do not appear enough on these lists! Fantastic Song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo2ZsAOlvEM
One of the brothers is staying over, so I asked him the question. His immediate reply Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here.
Let me present the brother’s entry:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXdNnw99-Ic
J.R – You’re Crazy For Taking The Bus
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r5NkEkaXHQ – LIVE
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzVe7pO4pz0
:-J
On which theme…
Only Losers Take the Bus- Fatima Mansions.
https://youtu.be/HaSi2Z74Ou8
Put that in your pipe and smoke it National Transport Authority!!!
Does crossing the road count as travelling? There is a road involved, after all.
Has to be done really! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrKry6fkowM
If I recall correctly, someone on here a few years ago located the kid at the pedestrian crossing.
I think I find an excuse to post this every time but its brilliant.
I bought the album the week it came out and apparently nobody else did because it got deleted…. :)
Vegas- walk into the wind
https://youtu.be/6znRtWl_B4w
Simon&Garfunkel – Homeward Bound
Simon&Garfunkel- Scarborough Fair
Prince – Little Red Corvette
The Pogues -Fairy Tale of New York
U2 – Where the Streets Have No Name
Radiohead – Street Spirit
Bruce Springsteen – Streets Of Philadelphia
ZZ Top -Viva Las Vegas
Marc Cohn – Walking in Memphis
Toto – Africa
Dr. Dre – California Love
The Mama’s and The Papa’s – California Dreaming
David Bowie – Life on Mars
Velvet Underground – Venus in Furs
T’Pau – China in Your Hand
Johnny Cash – Folsom Prison Blues
Imelda May – Kentish Town Waltz
The Proclaimers – Letter from America
Duffy – Warwick Avenue