“(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66″ is an American popular song, composed in 1946 by Bobby Troup and first recorded that same year by Nat King Cole.
Troup conceived the idea for the song while driving west from Pennsylvania to Los Angeles, California, and the lyrics — which include references to the U.S. highway of the title and many of the cities it passes through — celebrate the romance and freedom of automobile travel.
The lyrics read as a mini-travelogue about the major stops along the route, listing several cities and towns that Route 66 passes through. Specifically mentioned, in order, are St. Louis, Missouri; Joplin, Missouri; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Amarillo, Texas; Gallup, New Mexico; Flagstaff, Arizona; Winona, Arizona; Kingman, Arizona; Barstow, California; and San Bernardino, California. Winona is the only town out of sequence in the list. It was a very small settlement east of Flagstaff, and might indeed have been forgotten if not for the song’s lyric, “Don’t forget Winona”, written to rhyme with “Flagstaff, Arizona.”
Cole’s rendition of “Route 66″ became a hit on both the U.S. R&B and pop record charts.
The producers of television show Route 66 commissioned a new theme song because they wanted to avoid making royalty payments for Troup’s song.
The 2006 Disney/Pixar film Cars portrays the legendary road, Route 66 as a spectacle of the United States. In doing so, the Film’s Soundtrack includes the popular Chuck Berry version and the “updated” version by modern blues rock artist John Mayer.
Of all the songs accociated with Route 66, Bobby Troup’s “Get Your Kicks On Route 66″ most vividly comes to our minds. Reinvigorated by Nat Kick Cole in the 1940’s, this song’s catchy lyrics and quick beat reflected the spirit of the Baby Booming era after World War II. The fascination with going west, living your dreams, and inventing yourself resound in the music of this era. Troup wrote this particular song while on Route 66 with his wife. Not knowing the history or the national appeal of America’s Main Street, Troup simply wrote what came to mind as his car meandered over the bumby road. His lyrics would help make this road legendary after the Interstate Highway Act of 1956–an act virtually destructing the 1926 highway.
“Get Your Kicks (On Route 66)”
Bobby Troup, 1946, Londontown MusicIf you ever plan to motor west:
Travel my way, the highway that’s the best.
Get your kicks on Route 66!
It winds from Chicago to L.A.,
More than 2,000 miles all the way,
Get your kicks on Route 66 !
Now you go thru St. Looey…Joplin, Missouri!
And Oklahoma City looks mighty pretty.
You’ll see Amarillo…Gallup, New Mexico.
Flagstaff, Arizona: don’t forget Winona,
Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino.
Won’t you..get hip to this timely tip:
when you..make that California trip.
Get your kicks on Route 66!
Although this song embodies the optimistic spirit many of Route 66 travelers had in the 1920’s and 1940’s, Woody Gutherie’s Dust Bowl ballads most poignantly paint the picture of America’s battered migrant farmers. Born in Okemah, Oklahoma (a city along Route 66), Gutherie grew up during the Depression and more significantly during the Dust Bowl of 1935. His music touched the hearts of these farmers as America’s most famous “folk singer” traveled from Texas to California. His ballads later influenced pop artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and Billy Bragg. Singing about love, war, natural disasters, fascism, unions, and families, Gutherie wrote over 1000 original songs. His career lasted less than 20 years but his impact on music and Route 66 culture has lived on.
