Music has always been a huge part of my life, from my grade school band days and taking piano lessons from my Mom’s best friend (who was a Juilliard graduate) to my 25+ years singing and playing guitar and keyboards in touring rock bands. I feel like I’m always jotting down the name of some song I want to remember to add to my “gotta have it” list!  I wanted to start a list of tunes that my friends like to listen to while cruising on their motorcycles, or songs that are motorcycle related.

Though I personally do not listen to tunes while riding, I wil be adding more of these to my mp3 player so I can listen to them while painting motorcycles! This is not my own list, as my list would have to be an encyclopedia; I listen to everything from White Zombie to Jimmy Buffett opera arias to Buddhist chants to Don Ho to Frank Sinatra to the sounds of dolphins and whales with classical music!

This list is very loose, as all the songs are not strictly motorcycle related. Some of the songs make you feel like you’re flying down the road, and some songs make you forget your worries, and some songs have just touched the hearts of our biker friends. If you’re looking to put together a “motorcycle mix”…there’s folk, classic rock, alternative rock, and heavy metal suggestions included in this list.

Please comment and add your favorites, too!

A
Highway To Hell - AC/DC, and Back in Black album
Whippin’ Post - Allman Brothers
I am the Highway - Audioslave
Midnight Rider -Greg Allman
Ventura Highway - America
B
Summertime Blues - Blue Cheer
Highway Song - Blackfoot
Dead or Alive - Bon Jovi
Roll On Down the Highway - BTO
Running on Empty - Jackson Browne
Take Another Road - Jimmy Buffett
Good Vibration - Beach Boys
C
Crossroads - Eric Clapton/Cream
On the Road Again - Canned Heat
Gypsy Road - Cinderella
Panheads Forever - David Allan Coe
D
Six Days on the Road - Dave Dudley
Highway Star - Deep Purple
Rockin’ Down the Highway - The Doobie Brothers
Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan
Layla - Derek and the Dominos
Break On Through - The Doors
E
Life In The Fast Lane - Eagles
Peaceful Easy Feeling - Eagles
F
Ride, Ride, Ride - Foghat
Slow Ride - Foghat
California Dreamin’ - Jose Feliciano
Freebird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lord, I’m Coming Home - Red Foley
G
Move it On Over - George Thorogood & The Destroyers
New, New Minglewood Blues - Grateful Dead
Cocaine - Grateful Dead
Truckin’ - Grateful Dead
Cool Rider, Grease 2 soundtrack
Running Down the Road, Creole Belle, Coming Into Los Angeles,  and of course, The Motorycle Song - Arlo Guthrie
Welcome to the Jungle, Sweet Child of Mine, Paradise City and You Could be Mine - Guns & Roses
H
Bad Motor Scooter, I Can’t Drive 55 - Sammy Hagar
Heavy Metal sound track…especially Psychic Wars
Angel Eyes - Jeff Healey
Red House, All Along the Watchtower, The Wind Cries Mary - Jimi Hendrix
White Line Fever - Merle Haggard
I
Wicked Game - Chris Isaak
J
The Living End - The Jesus and Mary Chain from “Psychocandy”
Hell Bent for Leather, Head Out To The Highway, Breaking the Law - Judas Priest
The Race Is On - George Jones
Ball & Chain - Janis Joplin
Somebody to Love - Jefferson Airplane
White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane
K
Detroit Rock City,  - Kiss
I Believe I Can Fly - R. Kelly
L
Imagine - John Lennon
M
Bat Out of Hell - Meat Loaf
Biker Chick - Jo Dee Messina
Wherever I May Roam, Master of Puppets, Seek and Destroy, Nothing Else Matters, and remake of Turn the Page - Metallica
Bad Motor Scooter - Montrose 
Travelin’ This Lonesome Road - Bill Monroe
Kickstart My Heart, Wild Side, Home Sweet Home, and Girls, Girls, Girls - Motley Crue
The Wind Cries - John Mayer
Ballad of Thunder Road - Robert Mitchum
Minefields from The Matrix soundtrack
King of the Road - Roger Miller
N
Animals - Nickleback
Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
O
Crazy Train - Ozzy
P
Running Down A Dream - Tom Petty
Two-Lane Highway - Pure Prairie League
A Whiter Shade of Pale - Procol Harum
R
Ghost Rider - Rollins Band from The Crow Motion Picture Soundtrack  (This is a cover of the original song by Suicide)
Walk On The Wild Side - Lou Reed
Higher Ground - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Miss You, Bitch - Rolling Stones
Drivin’ My Life Away - Eddie Rabbit
S
Born to be Wild - Steppenwolf 
Get Into The Wind - Steppenwolf
Kenny Wayne Shephard
Roll Me Away -Bob Seger
Six Days on the Road, The Race Is On - Sawyer Brown
Leader of the Pack - The Shangri-Las
I Want To Take You Higher - Sly & The Family Stone
Summertime Blues - Stray Cats
Black Magic Woman - Santana
Black Hole Sun - Sound Garden
T
Ride ‘Till I’m Satisfied - Walter Trout
46 & 2 - Tool
U
With or Without You, Beautiful Day - U2
V
Stevie Ray Vaghn
Ride -The Vines
Runnin’ with the Devil - Van Halen
W
Goin’ Mobile, Baba O’Reily, Summertime Blues - The Who
Free Ride - Edgar Winter Group
Low Rider - War
Dead Skunk - Loudon Wainwright III
Dragula - White Zombie
Y
Motorcycle Mama - Neil Young

Some additional rock bands who just have the right kind of ‘tude for road tunes:
Queen, Heart, Led Zeppelin, Oasis, Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, System of a Down, Alice in Chains, Godsmack, Evanescence, Thin Lizzy, Stone Temple Pilots…

I’m going to keep adding to the list…so make sure you comment with your suggestions. Here are a couple interesting CDs:

You might want to check out “Donkey Riding” on that second one! Interesting genre…’till next time, keep the shiny side up, riders!

I like shopping Barnes and Noble for tunes, cuz they’ve got some unusual stuff!

Peaceful journeys,
Eclectic Dawn

2 Comments to “Songs for Motorcycle Riders”

1. ashadowrider — September 7, 2008 @ 10:16 am
   

   Driving my life away. Eddie Rabbit
   this song just puts a grin on my face and rolls the throttle on.

2. Dawn Schmidt Ventimiglia — September 8, 2008 @ 8:05 am
   

   Ahhh, yes, Eddie Rabbit! That is a good one for the list. Thanks for stopping by to comment! :)

   I used to like Eddie’s stuff “back in the day”…UNTIL we went to a hockey game in Milwaukee where he played a very short gig before the game. He played just a few songs, and then began his agonizing rendition of “I Love a Rainy Night”, which consisted of half an hour of getting the crowd to sing along with the chorus over and over and over and over. It was torturous, and we couldn’t wait for them to get off the stage. Every time you thought the song was over…he’d start it up again. I think he was watching the clock and just kept the song going to fulfill his contracted performance minutes!

   As a musician, I think it was a rip-off for the fans. A short sing-along gets fans excited, but when that sing-along becomes over half of your stage time…? *rolls eyes*

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