The Best Songs for Speed, According To Aficionados

Sometimes we all want to get in a car and hit the road – fast.

Now, we need to be clear here, we don’t encourage breaking the speed limit, because the consequences can be dire.

But if you need a great song to get the tarmac under you and the problems of life in your rearview mirror?

Then you need this playlist of music that is designed to get you on the track and which makes your drive fast and exciting all by itself.

The Best Songs To Get Your Engine Revving

The Grateful Dead – Casey Jones

We’ve tried to steer (geddit?) away from obvious choices like Linkin Park, Kanye West, and The Beastie Boys in this list.

This song is all about a train operator who, if you listen to the lyrics, you will learn had a head-on run in with another train that didn’t end well for him.

Give it a listen here.

Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen – Hot Rod Lincoln

If you’ve not heard of this band, that’s because though they made a lot of music, this was their only hit song.

It’s a shame because it’s all about taking your car out to a party and getting involved in back street racing and a lot of their other songs are just as good.

Give it a listen here.

Kiss – Mr. Speed

This song is all about rock and roll, the speed here isn’t so much behind the wheel as behind, well, the crotch.

Yes, it’s a song about getting into the bedroom and then being umm… a bit of a letdown. Right, Mr. Speed?

Give it a listen here.

Tracy Chapman – Fast Car

Fast Car is one of the classic songs of the 1980s and while the music may be laid back and acoustic.

This song speaks of how we all long to escape our lives at some point and if we could just move fast enough – we could forget our troubles and become new people.

That we’re still listening to this song in the 202x’s should tell you it’s good and so is the rest of the album for that matter.

Give it a listen here.

Eliott Smith – Speed Trials

You may not have encountered Eliott on the big-name music channels but he’s a god of the lyric and this is a great song which talks about literal “speeding” using amphetamines.

Give it a listen here.

Phish – Fast Enough For You

This time we’re behind the wheel of a relationship and this rock song is examining what happens when one partner wants to move things up a gear and the other doesn’t.

And how pressure can take something great and trash it completely. It’s a wonderful ballad and we can recommend listening to the whole album too.

Give it a listen here.

Motley Crue – Kickstart My Heart

Fast cars, fast girls, jumping out of planes, this song is about all these things and having fun with them all too. If you known anything about the band you know this reflects their own mad lifestyles at the height of their fame.

Give it a listen here.

The Eagles – Life In The Fast Lane

The Eagles’ Greatest Hits is the biggest selling record in history and this explosive number is all about the speed of the highway and the speed of relationships in relation to it.

It speaks to the temporary pleasures of thrill seeking most of all.

Give it a listen here.

Steppenwolf – Born To Be Wild

“Get your motor running… head out on the highway.” The instructions are coming through loud and clear with this rock classic.

Give it a listen here.

Ozzy Osborne – Crazy Train

We return to the theme of trains with the maddest man of them all – Ozzy.

Crazy train is about a helter skelter ride into Hell and it can certainly make you feel like you have the pedal pressed firmly to the metal.

Give it a listen here.

The Prodigy – Firestarter

The raw energy in this song about what drugs can do to you is angry but infectious. It’s just the kind of sound that influenced a generation to hit “go!”

Give it a listen here.

Slayer – Angel Of Death

It’s not the chirpiest of songs, but a real reminder that speeding isn’t always going to end happily.

Angel of Death is a raw, savage number about Dr. Mengele and the Auschwitz concentration camp. It’s amazing that it was ever recorded t be fair given the subject matter.

But it will make you want to speed.

Give it a listen here.

Listening to the right track can help you feel like you’re driving faster than you are. The right music can speak to your would and give your journey a story as you head across the country. So, we hope you found a song or two on our list to give you that freedom.

It’s always fun to take a fast car and watch the world roll by in our window, isn’t it? Just stay safe, please because you’re awesome.