Melodies and Travel Memories

Regular Midwest Guest readers know that I love compiling regional music mix lists, but today's music list is a little different.

Aaron of The Adventures of elATLboy blog recently tagged me in a Melodies and Travel Memories meme, so here's a short list of tunes that conjure up roadworthy memories for me:

• Detroit '67 by Sam Roberts is a great tune that I also featured in my Midwest Music Mix list of Michigan-related tunes. I loved cruising around town listening to Canadian singer-songwriter Roberts' take on Detroit history, resiliency and promise of better days ahead when the song first came out several years ago. I still enjoy cranking the tune up as I'm driving around town.
• Chagrin Falls by the Tragically Hip is a tune from another Canadian band (you'll find a lot of Canadian music on this particular list). Imagine my surprise when I spotted a sign pointing to Chagrin Falls as I was driving home from a conference near Cleveland, Ohio. Knowing this song, turning off to check out the town was a must. I'm not sure if the song really has anything at all to do with this little northern Ohio town. I'm guessing the Hip's Gord Downie simply liked the sound of the town's name.
  
  
  
• Hasn't Hit Me Yet by Blue Rodeo (yup, another Canadian band) reminds me of sunny summer days and cruising along Lake Michigan on Highway M-22 in northwestern Michigan. The song comes from a 1993 album entitled, appropriately enough, Five Days in July, although the lyrics of the song talk about a cold December night in the middle of Lake Ontario. Go figure.
• Tales of a Phantom Ship by Lennie Gallant was one of the songs we heard as we traveled around Prince Edward Island on one of our first "real" vacations years ago. We kept seeing notices of PEI native son Gallant appearing about the island, but we were never on the right side of the island to attend one of his shows the two weeks we were there.
• Life is a Highway by Tom Cochrane is one of my all-time favorite traveling tunes, and it's the song I always have in the number spot in any on-the-road mix I put together. Again, another Canadian!
• Freedom by Figgy Duff is one of a group of songs from this quintessential Newfoundland band. This band disbanded after the death of one of the two principals, Noel Dinn, in 1993, but band mate Pamela Morgan continues to perform today. We caught her show in Trinity, Newfoundland when traveling there a half dozen years ago. The venue was an intimate club seating about 50 people. Most of the folks there were part of a writing retreat of Boston-area writers (who performed an impromptu poetry slam as the warm-up act that evening). Four other audience members were two couples we'd met several days earlier when we all stayed at a bed and breakfast in St. John's (there is one main road through Newfoundland, and we kept running into the same people along the route during our time on the island)...and then there were the two of us. Great show!

And here are a few non-Canadian tunes:

• Black Night by Bob Seger is a song I always associate with having to give up my first car, a 1968 Pontiac Firebird. I loved that car and relished the first real freedom I experienced by having my own set of wheels. Unfortunately, the car began needing more and more repairs as it got older, and I couldn't afford to keep it. This Seger tune was the last song I ever heard play on my Firebird's car radio.
• Roam by the B-52s is another on-the-road favorite. I don't have a specific travel memory associated with this song, but it's a great tune to drive to.
• Fly Away by Lenny Kravitz puts me in mind of my last plane trip, to Paris and the Basque Country of Spain and France. It's another tune on my primary on-the-road driving list as well.
  
  
  
• Alice's Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie is Tim's contribution to this list. He remembers many summer evenings at the beach Up North at the end of Deadstream Road in Honor, Michigan singing this song with friends.
• Theme from "Shaft" by Isaac Hayes reminds me of our trip to Memphis. We had a great time at the Stax Museum there, ate at Hayes' restaurant (since closed) and picked up his cookbook.

Want to see more of my music mix lists? Check out my series of Midwest Music Mix Lists featuring musicians from, and music about, Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, Indiana and North Dakota.

And with that, I'm tagging a few great travel bloggers to share their own Melodies and Travel Memories:

Amy at A closer look at flyover land

Jesse at Things to do in the U.P.

Nicole at Arrows Sent Forth

Comments

[Elatlboy]

Great play list. Just checked out Life Is A Highway all the way through. Forgot about this jam, perfect one when on the open road. :)

[Dominique King]

I always liked Tom Cochrane's version of Life is a Highway best...No Regrets, which is also off of that Mad, Mad World album, is also a great driving tune.