In 1946, Bobby Troup and his wife Cynthia were driving west from Pennsylvania in a secondhand Buick with a few hundred dollars between them and a dream of making it in Hollywood. Cynthia kept suggesting song titles as they drove. Somewhere in Missouri, she leaned over and said: “Get your kicks on Route 66.”
Troup pulled over, took out a notebook, and spent the next few miles scribbling. By the time they crossed into Oklahoma, he had a working draft of one of the most enduring road songs ever written.
The song was deceptively simple — a rolling list of towns from Chicago to Los Angeles, arranged over a shuffle rhythm that felt like a car engine idling. Troup took it straight to Nat King Cole when he arrived in LA, and Cole recorded it within weeks. It hit the charts in early 1946 and barely left the radio for the rest of the decade.
What made the song stick wasn’t the melody, though the melody is perfect. It was the specificity. Amarillo. Gallup. Flagstaff. Winona. Kingman. Barstow. San Bernardino. Every town got its moment. People who’d driven those stretches heard their own journey reflected back at them. People who’d never been felt the pull to go.
The Rolling Stones covered it in 1964. Depeche Mode covered it in 1987. Chuck Berry, Manhattan Transfer, Asleep at the Wheel — the list goes on for pages. Each version sounds like a different decade’s version of the same dream.
Troup made it to Hollywood and had a respectable career. But the song outlived everything else he ever wrote. Some roads just sound right when you put them to music.
We are offering licences for ROUTE 66® Beer in specific territories. An invitation to others to become part of this story. To carry a piece of the road with them and to contribute to the story. We will share a percentage of royalties with Route 66 associations to keep the story alive.
The journey continues. This story is brought to you by ROUTE 66® BEER. Find us at ROUTE66BEER.COM
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