What tune do you travel to?
As with all kinds of strenuous activity, travel needs a soundtrack; music breeds movement and vice versa. There’s nothing quite like turning up ACDC whilst driving down Route 66, or nodding to Natty Dread on a beach in Barbados. Good music can enhance and intensify a travelling experience: it can prepare you, it can relax you; it can switch your mood from annoyance because you have sand in places where it shouldn’t be to bliss at the sight of a gloriously poetic sunset.
Don't forget some good headphones!
Cliff Richard We’re all going on a summer holiday
A classic. Non-British readers will look this up on YouTube and be horrified, yet there’s something to be said for Cliff Richard’s sickly wholesomeness which brings us all back to yelling in the back of the car and punching your sibling in the arm; “I need to wee. Are we there yet? Muuuuuuuum I’m hungry etc…”.
Bobby Darin Beyond the Sea
Heathrow, JFK, Schiphol, Hong Kong; wherever you’re trapped because of delays, storms, false fire alarms Beyond the Sea will stop you from taking the staff of the nearest coffee shop hostage. A classic from the American songbook, the rest of the waiting lounge will be bobbing along with you to Bobby’s smooth and easy vocals.
10 cc Dreadlock Holiday
The shocking claim that Gouldman and Stewart don’t like cricket (I’m British) is quickly appeased in a fantastically rhythmic bite of summer reggae. A great one to dance to as it doesn’t require a lot of coordination. Nodding and swaying are generally helped by one too many pina-coladas, paper lanterns and a warm breeze.
Iggy Pop Passenger
Hitchhiking is a tough business; you can spend hours sat on the side of a road before a car pulls over, and said car might well be driven by someone keen to show off their photo collection of china dolls dressed as soldiers. Let Iggy Pop soothe your pain with some musical empathy – he too is a passenger, but he’s cool with it.
Oliver Cheatham, Get Down Saturday Night
A little funk and you’ll be ready for the continental discotheque. A prodigious amount of head/ chest hair, real or fake, can only facilitate your coronation as dancing king/queen. Retro music reigns in mainland Europe; it’s cool and everywhere. Vinyl records are sold alongside CDs and DVDs in chain music stores and don’t take up much luggage room…
Balkan Beat Box Bulgarian Chicks
A do-before-you-die trip around central Europe requires nothing more than a copy of Balkan Beat Box’s self-titled album and a readiness to learn the accordion. Begin in Prague and the Czech Republic before heading South to loop through Austria to Slovakia, Hungary, down to Slovenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, up through Serbia into Romania before flying out from Bulgaria. Might want to take a big bag…
Guns N’ Roses Welcome to the Jungle
Despite Axel’s unfortunate confrontation with a plastic surgeon, his voice and presence still resonate with the force of a thousand beautiful banshees. This song is a great motivator when trekking, climbing, paragliding or riding a banana boat.
Rodruigo y Gabriela Tamacun
Though this Mexican duo’s virtuoso musical talent may leave you feeling a little inadequate, listening to them rip an acoustic guitar to shreds while making musical magic is the perfect accompaniment to a night around a fire (hopefully contained) with a few new friends and some beer that makes your face scrunch up when you drink it.
Rupert Holmes Escape
If you’re lucky enough to experience a little holiday romance, break this tune out as proof of your immense coolness and suave before moving in for the kill. That’s right, I just used the phraseology ‘moving in for the kill’ – immense coolness and suave…
The Police Message in a Bottle
To ease the pain of returning to the daily grind, be thankful you’re not stuck on a desert island talking to a football.
