Wise people journey…to great travel music

Christmas is all about travelling. Not this year, of course, but it does date from the original Christmas, when Joseph and Mary, the shepherds, the singing angels, and the three wise men all travelled to Bethlehem.

So, what better way to spend the time between Dec. 25 and Jan. 6, Epiphany – when the three camel-riders traditionally arrived with their gold, frankincense, and myrrh – than listening to travel music? (The wise men were likely two years late, since the Star of Bethlehem was not as accurate as Google Maps or GPS.)

Here are my Top 30 travel tunes, in no particular order. (Follow the links below, or see my YouTube playlist.) Many are classics, others are newer, and some are not travel music per se, but something about them inspires my itchy feet.

Many other possible contenders are out there. Let us know, in the comments below, what travel music you would add to this list and why.

1 We Three Kings, John Henry Hopkins Jr.; adapted by Kirk Franklin for “The Star”

My family rode camels in 2003 in Australia, a sunset tour around Uluru, and I loved the plodding, contemplative gait, so I like to imagine I’m a fourth Wise Person, following my star. I share Balthazar, Caspar, and Melchior’s love of travel and learning, although the only constellations I can reliably identify are the Big Dipper and Orion’s Belt. I would have arrived 10 years late.

We Three Kings of Orient are

Bearing gifts we traverse afar

Field and fountain

Moor and mountain

Following yonder star

2 You & Me, Dave Matthews Band

These lyrics speak to me: about packing light, just the bare essentials, which means you’re more flexible about following whims; about travelling with your love; and about inspiring your children to follow their dreams. I hope we’ve done that.

Wanna pack your bags, something small

Take what you need and we disappear

Without a trace we’ll be gone, gone

The moon and the stars can follow the car

And then when we get to the ocean

We gonna take a boat to the end of the world

All the way to the end of the world

Oh, and when the kids are old enough

We gonna teach them to fly

You and me together, we could do anything, Baby

You and me together yes, yes

3 Life is a Highway, Tom Cochrane; performed by Rascal Flatts for “Cars”

Travel is often a metaphor for the journey through life.

Life is a highway

I wanna ride it all night long

If you’re going my way

Well, I wanna drive it all night long

4 Born to be Wild, Mars Bonfire; from “Easy Rider”; performed by Steppenwolf

Bill and I aren’t wild, but this song begs you to get out on a road trip to anywhere.

Get your motor runnin’

Head out on the highway

Lookin’ for adventure

And whatever comes our way

Yeah Darlin’ go make it happen

Take the world in a love embrace

5 King of the Road, Roger Miller

Train songs remind me of my Dad, who my Mom blames for my wanderlust. When Dad was in university, he spent his summers travelling all over North America, often hopping on trains, and often working in logging camps out west. He had little money to spend on shoes or suits. One night, he and his buddy knocked on a small-town police station door and asked to sleep in a jail cell.

I’m a man of means, by no means

King of the road

Third boxcar, midnight train

Destination: Bangor, Maine

Old worn-out suit and shoes

I don’t pay no union dues

6 I’ve Been Everywhere, Australian original by Geoff Mack, North American version by Hank Snow; performed by Johnny Cash

We haven’t actually been everywhere, but I’d like to get there some day.

I’ve been everywhere, man.

Crossed the deserts bare, man.

I’ve breathed the mountain air, man.

Of travel I’ve had my share, man.

I’ve been everywhere.

7 Come Fly With Me, Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn; performed by Michael Bublé

Flying isn’t the kindest mode of transportation, with all the carbon it emits, but I adore it. The smell of jet fuel tells me I’m on my way somewhere new; taxiing sets my stomach aflutter with the possibilities; I feel the rumble along the runway and try to pinpoint the exact moment the wheels leave the tarmac.

Come fly with me, let’s float down to Peru

In llama land, there’s a one-man band

And he’ll toot his flute for you

Come fly with me, let’s take off in the blue

8 Anywhere, Passenger

All the various forms of transportation hold allure, although I’ve never travelled in a submarine or helicopter.

If you get up in a jet plane

Or down in a submarine

If you get onto the next train

To somewhere you never been

If you wanna ride in a fast car

And feel the wind in your hair

Darling just look beside you

Oh, I’ll go with you anywhere

9 We Danced Anyway, Randy Scruggs and Matraca Berg; performed by Deana Carter

This song describes happy travel memories of exploring small towns where we didn’t speak the language, but laughed and figuratively danced anyway, leaping in to taste the local culture.

I can see us there

In a happy little foreign town

Where the stars hung upside down

Far, far away

10 Moon River, Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer; from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”

This dreamy travel music etches a romantic vision of roaming the world.

Two drifters off to see the world.

There’s such a lot of world to see.

We’re after the same rainbow’s end—

waiting ’round the bend, my huckleberry friend, Moon River and me.

11 The Long Way Around, Martie Maguire et al; Dixie Chicks

The lyrics echo the name of my travel blog: The Long Road Home.

I could never follow

Well, I never seem to do it like anybody else

Maybe someday, someday I’m gonna settle down

If you ever want to find me I can still be found

Takin’ the long way

Takin’ the long way around

12 End Of The Line, Traveling Wilburys

I learned long ago that you can’t “sit around and wait for the phone to ring.” If you want something, you must make it happen. Don’t drift along wherever traditions or the current currents take you. Live life intentionally.

Well it’s all right, riding around in the breeze

Well it’s all right, if you live the life you please

Well it’s all right, doing the best you can

Well it’s all right, as long as you lend a hand

You can sit around and wait for the phone to ring (End of the Line)

Waiting for someone to tell you everything (End of the Line)

Sit around and wonder what tomorrow will bring (End of the Line)

13 What We Live For, Aaron Accetta et al; American Authors

In 2011, Bill and I celebrated our 25^th wedding anniversary on Vancouver Island. We rented a black Ford Mustang convertible and drove from Victoria to Tofino, along the winding mountain roads with the top down.

This is what I live for

Baby, you’re my open road

You can take me anywhere the wind blows

Right into the great unknown

We can throw our hands up out the window

This is what we live for

14 When I’m Gone, A. P. Carter and Luisa Gerstein; aka the Cups Song, from “Pitch Perfect”

Fortunately, I get to travel with my best friend, so he won’t miss me because we’re both gone together.

I got my ticket for the long way ’round

The one with the prettiest of views

It’s got mountains, it’s got rivers

It’s got sights give you shivers

But it sure would be prettier with you

When I’m gone

When I’m gone

You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone

15 Road to Nowhere, David Byrne; Talking Heads

Sometimes, when wandering down a road to nowhere, you make discoveries that would never make it into a guidebook: discoveries about yourself.

We’re on a road to nowhere

Come on inside

Takin’ that ride to nowhere

We’ll take that ride

16 Road Trippin’, John Frusciante, Flea, and Anthony Kiedis; Red Hot Chili Peppers 

Unfortunately, we can’t get lost in the U.S.A. right now but, post-Covid, we want to explore more of the west and southwest.

Road trippin’ with my two favorite allies

Fully loaded we got snacks and supplies

It’s time to leave this town, it’s time to steal away

Let’s go get lost anywhere in the U.S.A.

Let’s go get lost, let’s go get lost…

17 A Whole New World, Alan Menken and Tim Rice; from “Aladdin”

Okay, I have a sappy side. While the whole splendid world has pretty much been discovered, you can still experience places afresh when you travel with your own point of view.

I can open your eyes

Take you wonder by wonder

Over sideways and under

On a magic carpet ride

A whole new world

18 On My Way, Phil Collins; from “Brother Bear”

This is another sappy, yet inspiring, song about the joy of heading out to new places.

Tell everybody, I’m on my way

And I’m loving every step I take

With the sun beating down, yes

I’m on my way

And I can’t keep this smile off my face

19 Rocks and Trees, The Arrogant Worms

If The Arrogant Worms’ travel music doesn’t inspire you to investigate your own country, nothing will. They make you curious to explore places in person. Here are three bonus songs about Canada: The Last Saskatchewan Pirate, A Night on Dildo, and Canada’s Really Big.

‘Cause we’ve got

Rocks and trees

And trees and rocks

And rocks and trees

etc.

20 Rocks and Trees, Wendell Ferguson

More great Canadian travel music on the same theme!

By the time you hit Kenora

You don’t want to see no more-a

Rocks and trees, trees and rocks

21 On the Road Again, Willie Nelson

Another classic that inspires me to hit the road in our Vandalf.

On the road again

Just can’t wait to get on the road again

The life I love is making music with my friends

And I can’t wait to get on the road again

22 Tour the World, Renald Francoeur

My wanderlust kicks into gear when unfolding any map or spinning a globe. This fun video taps into that; it colours in every country as it’s mentioned in the song.

We can go all around the world

We’ll visit every corner of this earth

We’ll go all around the world

You and I, we’ll visit everywhere

23 Route 66, Bobby Troup; performed by Natalie Cole and Diana Krall

I’ve long dreamed of driving the famed Route 66 – the ultimate American road trip from Chicago to Los Angeles.

Well if you ever plan to motor west

Just take my way it’s the highway that’s the best

Get your kicks on Route 66

24 Come Away with Me, Norah Jones

Traveling full-time is much like Covid lockdowns – you spend nearly every hour with your partner. Fortunately, Bill and I get along well.

Come away with me and we’ll kiss

On a mountaintop

Come away with me

And I’ll never stop loving you

25 Ramblin’ Man, Dickey Betts; The Allman Brothers Band

Another song that reminds me of my Dad.

And when it’s time for leavin’

I hope you’ll understand

That I was born a ramblin’ man

26 America, Paul Simon; Simon & Garfunkel

We have travelled a lot by long-distance bus, some of them quite luxurious, and by local chicken buses. And we’ve done exactly what Simon wrote about: speculating about our fellow travellers’ backgrounds.

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”

27 The Way, Tony Scalzo; Fastball

We began our travels with a little more preparation than one night, but we shared the feelings in this song, of searching for places that don’t require shoveling snow.

They made up their minds

And they started packing

They left before the sun came up that day

An exit to eternal summer slacking

But where were they going without ever

Knowing the way?

28 Put One Foot in Front of the Other, Jules Bass and Maury Laws; from “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”

Not your typical travel music, but it inspired me when I was climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in 2009. I sang it repeatedly to myself, especially as my pace slowed and slowed as we neared the 19,341-foot summit. I had to focus on one…step…at…a…time.

Put one foot in front of the other

And soon you’ll be walking ‘cross the floor

Put one foot in front of the other

And soon you’ll be walking out the door

29 This Land is Your Land, Woodie Guthrie; performed by The Tabernacle Choir

When our international travels were curtailed by Covid, we re-focused and decided to explore our own country instead. We’re proud to be Canadian. I appreciate the Canadian words (by The Travellers in 1955) of Woodie Guthrie’s 1940 folk song.

I roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps

To the fir clad forests of our mighty mountains

And all around me a voice was calling

This land was made for you and me

30 What a Wonderful World, Louis Armstrong

In this video, Louis Armstrong explains why, despite war, hunger and pollution, he believes it’s a wonderful world. While it’s not a travel song per se, I’ve come to understand his reasoning by travelling. It is indeed a wonderful world.

I hear babies cry

I watch them grow

They’ll learn much more

Than I’ll never know

And I think to myself

What a wonderful world

Tell us, in the comments below, about your favourite travel music.