Neil Young’s 5 Best Songs About Cars and Driving
Neil Young is one of rock’s all-time great singers, guitarists, and songwriters. He’s also a complete obsessive when it comes to cars. Over the years, Young has spent countless hours collecting, driving, and working on classic rides, and he’s an enthusiastic advocate for green energy and eco-friendly vehicles. He’s even written an entire book about the most important cars in his life.
Not surprisingly, Young’s musical genius has frequently crossed paths with his passion for cars — especially when you look beyond classics like “Heart of Gold,” “Like a Hurricane,” and “Harvest Moon” and delve deeper into his nearly bottomless catalog of songs. Here are five of the man’s best tunes about vehicles, driving, and the lure of the highway.
“Roll Another Number (For the Road)” (1975)
“Roll Another Number (For the Road)” is from Tonight’s the Night, one of the darkest and saddest albums Young ever recorded. Once you get past the jaunty steel guitar and country-shuffling rhythm, this song is steeped in regret and loss, starting with its unforgettable opening lines: “It’s too dark to put the keys in my ignition/And the mornin’ sun is yet to climb my hood ornament.”
“Long May You Run” (1976)
“We’ve been through some things together/With trunks of memories still to come.” This sweet, mellow tune is a tribute to Neil Young’s beloved first vehicle — a hearse, nicknamed “Mort Hearseberg,” that he used for transporting band gear. Recorded with former CSNY bandmate Stephen Stills, “Long May You Run” is easily Young’s best-known (and best) car song.
“Unknown Legend” (1992)
The atmospheric instrumentation of “Unknown Legend” is matched by Linda Ronstadt’s haunting background vocals, and by the song’s unforgettable imagery — perhaps inspired by a woman whom Young once knew and loved. “Somewhere on a desert highway, she rides a Harley Davidson/Her long blonde hair flying in the wind.”
“Trans Am” (1994)
As his longtime band Crazy Horse settles into a slow, eerie groove, Young sings about the mysterious journey of an old Trans Am car through America’s past and present. Seemingly on its last legs but never quite dead, the Trans Am ends the song “somewhere north of Barstow, lost on 66” — and maybe just a repair away from getting back on the road once again.
“Chevrolet” (2022)
By far the hardest-rocking (and longest) song on this list, “Chevrolet” proves that Young can still shred with the best of them even in his late 70s. As he kicks up a glorious ruckus with Crazy Horse, Young imagines himself behind the wheel of an old Chevrolet as he revisits old memories, regrets, and desires. “Gone is the crowded highway/Lost are the roads we left behind/Found in the place they live inside me/Chevrolet.”
Bonus: Fork in the Road (2009)
Very, very few people would put Fork in the Road on a list of Neil Young’s best albums. But if you approach it in the right mood, it’s fun to hear Young nerd out with these 10 songs about his LincVolt biofuel hybrid, his love of driving, and the importance of making the transition to greener and more efficient vehicles.
A longtime editor/writer and recently transplanted Hoosier, Caleb Cook lives in Xenia, Ohio. His favorite activities are reading and listening to music, although he occasionally emerges from the heap of books and vinyl records in his basement to stand blinking in the sunlight. Once fully acclimated to the outside world again, he can be observed hanging out with his wife, attempting a new recipe in the kitchen, attending movies, walking the dog, or wandering into a local brewery to inquire about what’s on tap. See more articles by Caleb.