MY ULTIMATE TOP 20 TRAVEL SONGS

As I’m off on another adventure in under two months(!!), I’ve been thinking a lot about what makes a trip not just a trip but an experience and one thing to me is the songs that relate to your travels. I have songs, as we all do, that represent particular times in my life, especially those times where I’ve travelled abroad (you’ll see a couple of those in this list)
So, I thought it’d be a nice idea to write out my definitive top twenty travel songs; songs that relate to travel, songs that relate to certain experiences of mine, songs that inspire people to travel, songs that give good feeling.. you get it..
Comment and let me know if you agree, if there’s anything you’d add.. Let’s go!

20. Vanessa Carlton – A Thousand Miles

A gentle start to the countdown, Vanessa Carlton’s A Thousand Miles is a cult classic. You only have to listen to the song once to know why - that riff. The song (most famous nowadays for the car scene in White Chicks) talks about Carlton’s wanting for her lover for whom she has been separated from, I’m guessing by an approximate distance of 1000 miles..

19. Bruce Springsteen – Born To Run


The lyrics speak for themselves, talking of escaping and seeing life before it’s too late, “we gotta get out while we're young”. And you know, we were born to run. It’s just a true fact of life. Evolution.
Controversial that this is so low on the list? Maybe. The song itself doesn’t have anything particularly spine-tingling about it to me, but it’s fucking Springsteen for God’s sake. Of course it’s going to be here.

18. M.I.A. – Come Walk With Me


So this may be a bit of a personal entry to the list, but I love M.I.A. and I love this song and I don’t think there’s enough hype around her. I'd hope that I could see this song being big on the backpacker scene in the coming years. Expect to see photos of me dropping it like it’s hot (I just.. sorry) to this at a beach party in the future.

17. Steppenwolf – Born To Be Wild


Another ‘born to’ song and another song about motorcycles – were Springsteen and the Steppenwolf guys drinking buddies? (genuine question)
”Born to be wiiiiiiild” has to be one of the greatest feel-good moments of any song, you just can’t help but sing along. A song about looking for adventure and facing whatever comes along. Hello number 17.

16. Nelly Furtado – I’m Like A Bird


Who’d’ve thought Nelly Furtado would ever make a travel music list?
It’s the chorus of this song that strikes a chord with me, I think it’s resonant as it talks of not knowing where home is, reflecting the feeling of being ‘lost’ that many a traveller can relate to. She also compares herself to a bird and that’s extra brownie points right there.

I like to think she’d be a sparrow hawk.

15. Daft Punk – Around The World


A legendary sound from legendary music men. The song itself doesn’t really have much more to it than “around the world, around the wo-orld” over some pretty heavy bassline, but hey, it applies and I love it. It’s that 90’s, I feel hashtagging it #ThrowbackThursday would be appropriate.

14. Ray Charles – Hit The Road Jack

More of a break-up song, but it still employs the basic principle of travel – hitting the road. Ray Charles, one of the most charming performers of the 20th century, made this Percy Mayfield song famous in 1960 and it has remained a timeless tune to this day. No jokes to this one, just a goddamn classic.

13. Whitesnake – Here I Go Again


“YOLO” before “YOLO” was “YOLO”. Maybe applying more to the regular solo traveller, this one hasn’t lost it’s original kick. Possibly the only classic rock song not to be covered by Glee?
Did I speak too soon?

12.  Scissor Sisters – Only The Horses

This was my “returning home” song after my trip to Thailand in 2012. I did not want to leave the country and come back to rainy England, so I guess there’s emotional attachment for me. The song is beautiful and this list wouldn’t reflect my views without some form of camp. Scissor Sisters fill that quota quite well. “It feels so good to just get lost sometimes” is less of a lyric to me and more of a sentiment. It’s so true.
Pass the Kleenex, it’s getting emotional.

11. Candi Staton – Young Hearts Run Free


Another “but it’s just so true so listen to it” moment. This song is one of a few that can get absolutely anybody on a dance floor. It’s a pretty liberating tune and for that reason alone, it makes the list. Travel is all about liberation. It’s also pretty famous now for Kim Mazelle’s cover in Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo & Juliet.. which.. is just like.. the greatest scene of any movie ever.

10. Flo Rida – Wild Ones


Everything about this song makes me feel great; Sia’s vocals, the bassline, Sia’s vocals, the bit where Flo Rida tries to sing, Sia’s vocals and Sia’s vocals. This is the Chang gang song. Done.
(You won’t understand that if you aren’t part of the gang, for which I won’t apologise, I will just feel sorry for you)

9. Lady GaGa – Gypsy


What is life without a Lady GaGa song?! The most current song on the list, released in this fine year of 2013, has all the great aspects of a travel song. A catchy loop: check. A piano: check. A definitive list of stamps in the artists passport: check. Every true traveller would consider themselves a gypsy while they’re abroad – homeless and contemplating dreadlocks.

8. U2 – Beautiful Day


This was suggested to me and I had a gap to fill. It’s the sort of song that’d feature over a joyous montage in a Richard Curtis film. Enough said.

7. Tracy Chapman – Fast Car


HER VOICE! HER VOICE! HER VOICE!
If this song doesn’t make you buzz inside (especially when the chorus hits), you must be a very unfulfilled person. The line “We gotta make a decision, leave tonight or live and die this way” resonates with me, purely based on my unwillingness to settle for how things are. Travel is a form of escapism and this tune captures that perfectly!

6. John Denver – Leaving On A Jet Plane


In Top Of The Pops style, “just missing out on the top 5!”
The man himself kind of explains why this song belongs here at the beginning of the video – leaving the ones you love. I’ve known of this song since the choir I used to sing with as a child performed it and it’s always stuck for some reason. Maybe I always knew I was going to leave on a jet plane? Maybe I was a psychic child?
Suddenly everything makes sense..

5. Otis Redding – (Sitting On The) Dock Of The Bay


It’s Otis Redding and it’s Dock Of The Bay.

4. Rizzle Kicks – Traveller's Chant


It’s one of those sitting-on-a-train-looking-out-of-the-window-at-the-rain-as-the-camera-zooms-in songs. Rizzle Kicks frank lyrics make what could have been, truthfully, a crap song, actually quite special. It grabs hold of how everybody feels at some point in their life – you know, when you just need a holiday? “Yes, I do have places to be”
Oh, and Rizzle Kicks are Brighton lads, so you know.. Reppin’ the BN an’ what?

3. All Saints – Pure Shores


Most famous for being the lead song from The Beach soundtrack, this William Orbit/Shaznay Lewis penned ditty has that magical, underwater-like feel to it. It’s a explosion of nostalgia, another #ThrowbackThursday! All Saints were a great girl group, weren’t they? I miss them.
It’s the kind of ‘cocktail in the pool’ song that makes for a perfect travel tune.
Not that backpackers get that luxury very much.
Far too expensive.

2. Rusted Root – Send Me On My Way


As soon as you hear that twangy tune at the beginning, you know what’s coming! It’s only another bleedin’ nostalgia explosion! The song, most famous for being featured in the movie version of Roald Dahl’s Matilda, is the feel-good anthem of my childhood and it seems to have stuck with me through to adulthood and my travels. It’s the kind of tune I imagine being on the soundtrack to my life, as I run through a cornfield without a care in the world! I watch too many films, don’t I?






AND THE NUMBER ONE ULTIMATE TRAVEL SONG IS…

1. Bob Marley – Three Little Birds


Anybody that has travelled further than the Costa coast of Spain will tell you that Bob Marley is universally acknowledged as, well, God. This is the song I listen to, to cheer me up, this is the music I was raised on and Bob is the one person I have seen represented in some form in every single country I have been to. Whether it be as a statuette in Spain, a carving in Finland, a keychain in Greece or on the side of a taxi in Thailand – he’s there! Any of his songs could be at number one really. Something about Three Little Birds, however, seems to transcend borders. Because, you know, every little thing REALLY IS gonna be alright..


Download them all! Listen to them all! Love them all!
Leave some comments! Let me know your thoughts!