If you're in the Air Force during the Vietnam era: "Leaving, on a jet plane"

If you're in jail in Texas, "Let the midnight special..."

(only one of those applied to me)

If you're at cricket match in Sydney, in the 80's: "Feel like a Toohey's, Feel Like a Tooheys, Feel like a Toohey's or Two"

When you're Jimmy Buffet, and you want to fly home from the Islands: "No plane on Sunday, maybe be one come Monday... It's a hopeless situation, make the best of it that's all you can do."
(I've been there)

Willie Nelson,

On the road again.

Just can't wait to get on the road again.

Goin' places that I've never been

Seein' things that I may never see again

I can't wait to get on the road again

For those with aspirations in the fine arts:

Joni Mitchell:

"I was a free man in Paris, I felt unfettered and alive...."

For those who lived as ridgerunners in the tri-state WV-MD-PA area:

John Denver's "Take Me Home Country Roads"

For those who lived migratory lives between PA and MI:

Simon & Garfunkel's "America"

"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 pies
And walked off to look for America
"Kathy", 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
"Kathy, I'm lost", I said, though I knew she was sleeping
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

"There's such a lot of world to see"

Moon River, Henry Mancini

“Slow down you move to fast, you got to make the moment last….”
Simon and Garfunkel

I see leaves of green, red roses too, I see them bloom for me and you. And I think to myself, what a wonderful world. (Louis Armstrong).

For domestic trips...
"This Land is My Land"
For Oregon/Washington road trip....
"Roll on Columbia, Roll On"

"Berlin, Berlin, wir fahren nach Berlin."

Sung at every soccer match of German Cup from fans of all clubs because the final match is played in Berlin every May. This year fans from VfB Stuttgart and 3rd league club Arminia Bielefeld are expected to see Cup final match in Berlin.

Two German travelling classics are of course from Kraftwerk.

fun fun fun on the Autobahn...

https://youtu.be/vkOZNJYAZ7c?si=L-x7jNR0arF5SVP-

and if you're taking a train, it has to be Trans Europe Express.

https://youtu.be/i_85fUIRlmU?si=0xbBZkJ9GIRB7be5

More Jimmy Buffett, "Somewhere Over China":

We're all somewhere over China, headin' east of headin' west
Takin' time to live a little, flying so far from the nest
Just to put a little distance between causes and effects
Like an ancient fortune teller knowin' who and what comes next

"Wasted and wounded, it ain't what the moon did." - Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets to the Wind In Copenhagen), Tom Waits.

I've not been to Copenhagen but I had a few similar experiences when I lived in the UK for a while as a youth/young man. Great line from a great songsmith. Our Tom.

Christopher Cross' Ride Like the Wind is a great song if you're heading somewhere, or, more pertinently, getting the f- out of somewhere.

I've got such a long way to go / to make it to the border of Mexico / so I ride like the wind

https://youtu.be/qySwjyr1W0k?si=SuM2-Wi_n4NXNr32

I discovered it via the early 90's Italian cover version -

https://youtu.be/2JRwzaGDegw?si=JyPJGSfpjhavLCf6

Not necessarily a high or low point, but more so my general mindset and perspective on travel in general..

Bon Jovi's "It's My Life"
It's my life, it's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
(and mostly) -- "I just wanna live while I'm alive"

I learned from a really young age that life is fragile and can be painfully short. So, I do my best to live the best life I can, while I can, and for me, that means traveling.

Fun post!

PQ

Kratfwerk's Autobahn is for sure a good one.

For German Autobahn I prefer "Ich geb Gas" by Markus - typical NDW song of early 80s. He predicted the gas prices of today (appr. triple of those days) and sings he won't care - reality shows that he is right.

And I like to add the anthem for Sylt island travelers: "Westerland" by Berlin punk band Die Ärzte. Must-play on all summer parties of these times.

For people enjoying a cruise or a day at the sea "Biscaya" from James Last reflects the feeling.

My NDW favourite is probably Eisbär by Grauzone. That comes under "songs that remind me of a time and place", which is a whole different thread topic, but maybe a good one too.

In more recent times, stuff that has come out of Dubplates and Mastering in Berlin; Basic Channel, Rhythm and Sound, other stuff by Mark and Moritz, Robert Henke, DJ Pete, is Germany to me. I don't know if that's so obscure that a German needs to Google :)

edit: Mark! That Markus video is great! Paying for their petrol with a handful of Deutschmarks, and lighting up a Marlboro, just like I talked about in the smoking thread :)

Louis Armstrong: "What a Wonderful World" applied to so many places.

For Morocco: Crosby, Stills etc “Marrakesh Express.”
For Egypt: Gotta “Walk Like an Egyptian” like the Bangles.
For India: any of that George Harrison stuff with sitars
For England: “Stonehenge” from “This is Spinal Tap”. — “no one knows ‘oo they were, or what they were doin’, but their legacy remains, hewn into the living rock — of Stonehenge!”

Something that to me is quintessentially English is XTC's Senses Working Overtime.

It's a great example of English pastoral psychedelia. 1982, from the album English Settlement, which features The Uffington White Horse on the cover.

And all the world is biscuit-shaped
It's just for me to feed my face
And I can see, hear, smell, touch, taste
And I've got one, two, three, four, five
Senses working overtime

https://youtu.be/kjt7AdLYT2w?si=6nvb6M9y6GCujArT

A wonderful 80s song for travels in general: "Voyage, voyage" by Desireless - a very dancable cha-cha-cha btw. Widely unknown in the US I guess.

And one more German NDW song needs to mentioned: "In einem Taxi nach Paris" by Felix De Luxe. It transports wonderful that feeling of the 80s doing something crazy spontaneously. In the case of the song the singer would travel from Hamburg to Paris.

And staying in France the legendary chanson "La Mer" by Charles Trenet needs to be heard precious little and great moments at the sea.

I hope mentioning a cult film is allowed: "Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot" by Jacques Tati. Fine humor - inspiration for nearly all the comedian actors of today. You do not have to speak French - the film has tone but works widely like a silent movie.

An Al Stewart song from 1976 - Midas Shadow:

Another day, another boarding card
As you wait for your seat on the 'plane
The movie runs but you're still working hard
And you don't touch your food or champagne
I know that when your well runs dry
You'll want to know the reason
The empty night will bring you no reply
As it follows wherever you go

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gmb6Rm5yWqk

One that I love is I Did It All.

These are a few of the lyrics.

I hope when the moment comes
You say
I did it all
I did it all
I owned every second that
This world could give
I saw so many places
The things that I did
And with every broken bone
I swear I lived

Traveling to Chicago's inner south suburbs and "Pumped Up Kicks." Obviously a low point.

Truckin' - by the Grateful Dead

You're sick of hangin' around and you'd like to travel
Get tired of travelin' and you want to settle down
I guess they can't revoke your soul for tryin'
Get out of the door and light out and look all around

What A Long Strange Trip It's Been

(full lyrics here)

Sensual World/Kate Bush
Stepping out of the page
Into the sensual world
(Um, the rest is a little risqué)!
But, I apply a traveler’s perspective to the lyrics.

Truckin' ... Most excellent, dude!

"I ain't here on business, baby, I'm only here for fun."

Bruce Springsteen

2 Berlin classics that spur me on to travel....

1." Ich hab' noch einen Koffer in Berlin"

1. " Berliner Luft."

Sometimes on trips we have to "sing" the theme song from Mission Impossible.

songs in English or French pertaining to and leading one back to Paris, 2 of which are: ” the last time I saw Paris", the original version by Ann Sothern,

While it doesn't necessarily describe a high or low of my travels, the general mood but not necessarily the lyrics of this song remind me of long train trips in Europe, sitting quietly and being totally at peace while just enjoying the scenery and the travel experience - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z35EEI1HzbY .

Towards the end of my first two month trip, the sentiments of this song somewhat expressed my feelings - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbSOLBMUvIE .

I usually set up a holiday playlist set up on my phone for each trip, and having my favourite music makes the trip so much more enjoyable.

A lot of wisdom and humor here. I've enjoyed reading the responses.

You fine folks are clever with wit.

nancys8 lol!

John Denver's "Country Roads" may be the most popular song in the world. I've heard it sung in a rather drunken manner all over the place.

theplanningqueen that maybe my favorite Bon Jovi song along with Have A Nice Day.

It's my life it's now or never, I ain't gonna live forever. I just want to live while I'm alive Amen to that.

Sometimes on trips we have to "sing" the theme song from Mission Impossible.

When needing to feel intrepid Julie often summons the Indiana Jones theme to see her right.

Me? I recall the closing lines of ‘Senior Citizens’ by the wonderful Pete Atkin and Clive James:

And there’ll be time to do it all
I’m sure the thrill will never pall
The sand will take so long to fall
The neck so thin, the glass so tall….

The neck so thin, the glass so tall.

Sort of a ‘don’t worry be happy’ for the elderly!

Ian

John Denver's "Country Roads" may be the most popular song in the world. I've heard it sung in a rather drunken manner all over the place.

My cousin hosts a big family reunion every summer in PA at their rural home among the Amish locals. Many of us travel some distance "home". The Amish folks are so friendly that they always bring fresh sweet corn for roasting and take people for buggy rides into the farms. Later in the evening several of our musically talented family members get their acoustic guitars and a sing-a-long going by a fire. Nothing gets more participation than "Take Me Home, Country Roads". Everyone no matter their age seems to know it by heart. Even the Amish will join in! Some of us of course sing "Pennsylvania" instead of "West Virginia". We're only a couple miles from MD and WV. "Gotta Travel On" is also a great folk favorite. This has been a tradition for 40 years....not much drinking though....

I knew as a kid while listening to Frankie Laine's "Granada" that I would have to visit. Visit, I did, twice so far.
"Granada, I'm falling under your spell,
And if you could speak, what a fascinating tale you would tell.
Of an age the world has long forgotten.
Of an age that weaves a silent magic in Granada today."

My last two trips to Oaxaca and my trip to Munich, combined:

Disturbed, Down with the Sickness

Loud, loud video here

Amsterdam:

Pink Floyd, Comfortably Numb

Soft and floaty video here

That's definitely a low and a high!

-- Mike Beebe

No lasting attachment other than Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again”. There were years that I was on the road for business and pleasure a whole lot.

My two favourite songs with airports in the title:

Deux - Paris Orly

P-aris, O-rly
Direction Austerlitz
(One, two, three and talk to me)
P-aris, O-rly
Taxi pour Stalingrad

https://youtu.be/XXIPOK1rc88?si=-XKPjTvb8Qjd2rYp

Tujiko Noriko - Narita Made

窓からは家々が手を振る

東京の景色が飛び去ってしまう

運命は変えられた 変えられないのが運命

東京の景色が過ぎ去ってしまう

過ぎ去ってしまう

飛んでいく

https://youtu.be/SwvDt0979eE?si=fxaL83yP9vQ3qBFT

On Paris ........ that singular song by mistinguett, "ça, c'est Paris" (1929)

On one trip, the ZZ Top song "Waiting for the Bus" got stuck in my head.

Suggested by my wife: More Jimmy Buffett, "If It All Falls Down"

We had plenty of doctors
We had plenty of lawyers
We had people to make us things
We had people to sell us those things
Didn't have enough room for those things
We build lots of self-storage
Calypso poet shortage
Calypso poet shortage

[Chorus]
If it all falls down, falls down, falls down
I'll have filled that void from city to town
I'll have spent my money and taken my bows
I'll have had my fun if it all falls down
If it all falls down, falls down, falls down
If they solve my life, if they find me out
Never thought to keep all I have found

I have had my fun if it all falls down

So we'll keep on travelin, till it all falls down.

The music from Zorba the Greek. I love the movie, the music, and the country. Been to Greece twice and would love to visit again!

https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=music%20from%20Zorba%20the%20Greek&mid=75CF57E69F4D708BF4E375CF57E69F4D708BF4E3&ajaxhist=0

As a child of the 70's, I always hear Seals and Crofts "We may never pass this way again".
Helps me appreciate where I am at that moment.

I absolutely love this idea to document a travel experience. Thanks.

March 9, 2022 was the 35th anniversary of the release of Joshua Tree. As I headed out of my hotel and crossed Millennium Bridge i could hear a busker belting out a pretty dang good version "With or Without You".

November 7, 2023, I was traveling international for the first time since my accident and near the end of my trip. I'd been waiting for the end of a maintenance period on Millennium Bridge to wrap up so that i could finally walk across to Borough Market and back. Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down" was played a few times.

For some reason when wrapping-up my last fewminutes of the last work day before starting leave, always have to play the Go-Go's "Vacation".

REM's "Driver 8" just goes with the train journeys and "Radio Free Europe" when arriving.

When i was a wee lil kid in summer of '79 we did a cross country road trip, Virginia to Washington state in a Pop-up VW Camper. An 8 track tape player and several tapes began a love for ABBA.

Late 80s through the 90s when road trips were my only means of travel REM's Document, Green, Eponymous & Out of Time along with Robert Johnson's Complete Recordings became my travel soundtrack.

This isn't exactly what you mean, but I got Ani Difranco stuck in my head while walking around Paris. "When I look down, I miss all the good stuff. And when I look up, I just trip over things." Those streets were a menace! Lol

Vienna Waits for You. Billy Joel.

Brian Eno's Ambient 1: Music For Airports is a nice relaxing piece.

After spending several hours waiting for a flight at Germany's Cologne Bonn Airport and becoming annoyed by its uninspired atmosphere, Eno conceived an album of music "designed for airports".
wikipedia

https://youtu.be/vNwYtllyt3Q?si=A-TAIjy2NYVx-wgY

My son sent me TLC's Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls recently after I posted my umpteenth waterfall photo from probably the tenth waterfall we visited during 3 weeks on the North Island of NZ.

For me, Seals & Crofts "We May Never Pass This Way Again" has had great meaning for me as it was the class song my senior year in high school. It helped shape my way of looking at life. And that definitely includes travel.

Also, last month while hoping to board a flight to Zurich, Jimmy Buffet's line from a song "No plane on Sunday...it's a hopeless situation make the best of it's all you can do." fit the bill. Groups 1 through nearly 4, then de-boarded, then we all waited. Finally we started the boarding process and left, surprisingly only 30 minutes late. So not a hopeless situation. But my mindset was to relax and make the best of it.

Oh, and a line from another Jimmy Buffet song comes to mind when someone asks how I can possibly go to Europe where it's "so dangerous". I've given up telling people I'm safer there and in the U.S. But I always think of the lyric "I'd rather die while I'm living than live while I'm dead." I did think about that line last year when a flight had possible issues with the landing gear and we made an emergency landing at an intermediate airport. After the announcement was made we were landing at Harrisburg, not Philly I felt very calm and thought of this line. And the line from a Jimmy Buffet song I've embraced since the 80s "If it all falls down I'll have had my fun, I have been around." Upon landing we were met with emergency vehicles (which were ultimately not needed). We were put on a stretch van to go to Philly. I was more concerned about being killed on the ride to Philly than the emergency landing as the van driver was texting, placing phone calls, answering calls, and not paying attention to his driving most of the trip. All's well that ends well. And if it didn't, well see above.

Jackson Browne's Late For The Sky

"How long have I been running for that morning flight..."

Good call on Truckin! And I have to admit, when I have been in Morocco, CSN was impossible to get out of my head.
But, I lean towards Savoy Brown, Hell Bound Train. Some trips just go that way......
Hellbound Train I'm on it's track
Too late now to turn my back
Conductor coming ticket in his hand
Come to claim my soul
Take me to his land
Hellbound Train I been so wrong
Too late now I'm moving on
Conductor standing, watch in his hand
Got to get aboard take you to his land
I'm going down the road on the Hellbound Train
Take a long look lady 'cause you won't see me again
Take a last look lady, yes hard and long
'Cause I'm going down the road on the Hellbound Train

None of the Canadians have chimed in with "Home for a rest" by Spirit of the West yet?

Two songs by the relatively little known composer , Vernon Duke - " April in Paris " and " Autumn in New York " - https://youtu.be/WyfFxkyLsQQ?si=ex2DK1z0FAW8Ugfg and https://youtu.be/u2OkHbT5yFQ?si=gSWxFEcnJVZAHmKy and the classic by Henry Mancini , about travel , both literal and figurative https://youtu.be/VGB_81YiSs8?si=a-u3sq1eEet_4Ob2

"Someday never comes."

Never a truer word ever spoken. I may never do everything on my bucket list, but I'm not waiting around for everything to be "perfect".

A couple years ago we flew from Oregon to Nova Scotia on Air Canada. Rush instrumental YYZ was stuck in my head (both ways!). It was my highlight and my wife’s lowlight. We didn’t even fly through Toronto, which makes it worse I guess.

• sent from my rotary phone

sent from my rotary phone

Nice! I have a rotary "Princess" phone, but i'm too cheap to buy the $30 adapter to make it work with my antique landline.

When passing a slow moving vehicle on two lane highway, Linda Ronstadt's Blue Bayou comes to mind

There's really only one answer.

BERLIN Late at night. Listening in solitude, standing by the window. Fluorescent streetlights. Snowflakes falling. Always Crashing in the Same Car (1977).

PARIS Before, and after, an impressionist experience. Turbulent Indigo (1994).

LONDON First time. Springtime. Summertime. Daytime. Would I Lie to You (1984).

Our favorite travel song is by the Muppets: “Moving right along, footloose and fancy free…” We played it for the first time (on a cassette) when we moved from Houston to Pittsburgh in 1979. We were young and so excited to be moving back north. It always brings a smile to my face.

More Jimmy Buffett, "Somewhere Over China":

We're all somewhere over China, headin' east of headin' west Takin'
time to live a little, flying so far from the nest Just to put a
little distance between causes and effects Like an ancient fortune
teller knowin' who and what comes next

More Buffet:

"Reading departure signs in some big airports reminds me of the places I've been
Visions of good times that brought so much pleasure makes me want to go back again."

"I dream about Paris when I'm high on red wine, I wish I could jump on a plane,
So many nights I just dream of the ocean, God, I wish I were sailing again."

"Walk, Don´t Run" by the Ventures.

Texas girl here, gotta be Willie: On The Road Again. But Tom Petty is pretty sweet, too: Into the Great Wide Open.

I think my choice of songs called On the Road Again would be the Canned Heat one...

https://youtu.be/qRKNw477onU?si=YB-9L-1cPFU6A-0c

Eagles - Old 55

And now the sun's comin' up
I'm riding with lady luck
Freeway cars and trucks
Stars beginning to fade
And I lead the parade
Just wishin' I'd stayed a little longer...

A funny experience remembered when reading this thread:

On a beautiful Spring evening in Montemarte three years ago, a very large crowd on the stairs in front of Sacre Couer broke out in a rousing rendition of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama". It was unexpected for our first evening in Paris.

I'll never forget looking out over the railing of the Eiffel Tower, Paris spread out before me, and someone nearby was whistling "La Vie en Rose." And in Rome I couldn't get "When I Paint my Masterpiece" out of my head.

I'll never forget our farewell dinner on our 2023 Best of Adriatic. The group was on three large tables on an outdoor patio in Dubrovnik. There was live music. One of our group started getting the men up to dance, and slowly we all took a turn. The guitar player was so chuffed he danced with her! And at one point another tour member did a run to the guide as if he was going to lift her, Swayze/Baby style. The woman who started it even asked people not in the tour to dance.

We danced to a lot of different songs, but I remember Take me home, country roads, being played multiple times, as well as Leaving on a jet plane. To this day both songs make me think of that magical night.