Best Road Songs

There are some long, lonely stretches of highway in the Grand Canyon State. It's best to have some good music along for the ride. Here are some of my favorite  Arizona road songs and trail tunes that name-check Arizona. They will  keep you hummin' along with your tires: 

(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66
Songwriter: Bobby Troup bit.ly/1nKCxkc
Year: 1946

“Now it goes through St. Louie, Joplin, Missouri, 
And Oklahoma City is mighty pretty, 
See Amarillo, Gallup, New Mexico,
Flagstaff, Arizona, Don’t forget Winona,
Kingman, Barstow, San Bernadino.”

By the Time I Get to Phoenix She’ll Be Rising
Songwriter: Jimmy Webb bit.ly/2y9Napf
Year: 1965

“By the time I get to Phoenix she’ll be rising,
She’ll find the note I left hangin’ on her door,
She’ll laugh when she reads the part that says I’m leaving,'
“Cause I’ve left that girl so many times before.”

Take It Easy
Songwriters: Jackson Browne, Glenn Frey bit.ly/1KSXXUi
Year: 1971-72

“Well I’m standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona,
 and such a fine sight to see.
It’s a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford,
Slowing down to take a look at me.”

Rider in the Rain
Songwriter: Randy Newman
Year: 1977

Got a gun in my holster,
Got a horse between my knees,
And I'm goin' to Arizona,
Pardon me boys if you please.

He's a rider in the rain,
He's a rider in the rain,
And I'm goin' to Arizona,
He's a rider in the rain.

An old Zenith radio in the lobby of Winslow's La Posada Hotel.

A new Glenn Frey statue installed Sept. 24, 2016, at the Standin' on the Corner Park in Winslow, Ariz. Frey wrote the song "Take It Easy" with Jackson Browne. It was the Eagles' first hit song in 1972.

​​Ragtime Cowboy Joe
Songwriters: Grant Clark, Lewis F. Muir, Maurice Abrahams
Year: 1912 bit.ly/2wMSDoX

“Why he’s a high-falutin, rootin’-tootin’,
son of a gun from Arizona,
Ragtime Cowboy Joe.”

​Willin'
Songwriter: Lowell George bit.ly/2cMBW0p
Year: 1970

“I’ve been from Tucson to Tucumcari,
Tehachapi to Tonapah,
Driven every kind of rig that’s ever been made,
Driven the back roads so I wouldn’t get weighed.
 If you give me weed, whites and wine,
And show me a sign, and I’ll be willin’ to be movin.'"

See Arizona's Best Place Names:
http://www.ontheroadarizona.com/placenames.html