More ambulant songs

Last we looked, there were quite a number of songs inadvertently omitted in the list of songs about cars and roads some issues ago, drawing howls of protest from fans of the bypassed bands and artists.

To continue with this listing, not necessarily about cars alone, but also about other means of transport reliable enough to get us from one place to another, here goes:

Crosstown Traffic – Jimi Hendrix Experience

This is culled from the Experience’s third CD, Electric Ladyland, actually a double album. Hendrix as expected coaxes the most unpredictable distortions from his guitar, yet never straying too far from the basic melody and rhythm. The song showcases one of the more lasting analogies of the relations between the sexes: "It’s so hard to get through you!"

Riders in the Storm – The Doors

Somewhere down the road, a kind of evil always lurks. This seems like a perfect soundtrack while driving alone on a rainy night, and the windshield wiper working well. The Doors, and Jim Morrison, understand only too well what it takes to be "a dog without a bone, an actor all alone." Complete with a raging thunderstorm in the distance.

Drive – Eraserheads

Who can forget this driving song by one of our very own, which probably got people lining up in the driving schools. The line, "Gusto kong matutong mag-drive" best captures the adolescent feeling of wanting to break away, and so segues into its rightful denouement –a musical travelogue. The E-heads were never the same again after this.

Magic Bus – The Who

One of the first hits by the seminal British band, Magic Bus helped usher in the age of psychedelia much like the Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour. The song is sheer rhythm, owing much to the demon of syncopation, Bo Diddley. If it sometimes sounds like two drummers playing at the same time, listen again: it’s just a series of handclaps and other creative percussion.

Big Yellow Taxi – Joni Mitchell

Where we would all be without Ms. Joni, she of the trademark pout, cigarette dangling out of a corner of her mouth, while she rides that big yellow taxi into town. In another song, she sings: "If you’re driving into town with a dark cloud above you/ dialing the number of one who’s bound to love you." She answers that well here, where paradise could well be a parking lot.

Freedom Rider – Traffic

On the other hand, maybe this is about a horseman of the apocalypse. Whatever, the flute and keyboards take rock music to hitherto uncharted territory, and we are all the more richer for it, with or without cars. Steve Winwood remains one of the more underappreciated musicians of our time.

Last Chance Texaco – Rickie Lee Jones

Talk about Coolsville. Rickie Lee is a survivor, and she has aged gracefully and well, coming out with excellent albums even as one rage after another passed her by. At times her voice sounds like a cat in heat or even about to sneeze, especially on her 1996 unplugged album, Naked. Last Chance Texaco is an apt metaphor for lovers running on empty, but still "in running condition" nonetheless, until the last chance gas station on a long stretch of highway comes along.

Expressway to Your Skull – Sonic Youth

The band’s Thurston Moore is a worthy disciple of Hendrix as far as the church of the sonic guitar is concerned, and in this song, which is also on the best of collection Screaming Fields of Sonic Love, the distortions are as mind-bending as ever. Of course the band came and played here, with the dirty young men in the audience throwing bouquets of condoms at gyrating bassist Kim Gordon, Moore’s wife.

Cars are Cars – Paul Simon

From his mid-80s album, Hearts and Bones. Simon is atypically playful here with his lyrics, and the song comes out almost like a children’s ditty. Cars are cars all over the world, indeed.

Baby Driver – Simon and Garfunkel

Taken from the fabled duo’s fifth and last album, Bridge Over Troubled Water. A jaunty clip helps this song get along, taking with it memories of a boyhood off UP Diliman campus, ho-hey!

Traveling Boy – Paul Williams

People are going to kill me if this is not included, so here it is, although Art Garfunkel also has a version of it. But Paul Williams, yes, he sings as if his teeth are ngilo, or is it just a case of blubay.