NPR Asks: What's On Your Road-Trip Playlist?

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

If you're in the car, it's time to roll down your windows and let the wind get in your hair.

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

Crank up the volume and sing along.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HOLIDAY ROAD")

LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM: (Singing) I found out long ago, it's a long way down the holiday road. Holiday road...

CORNISH: We're building a road trip playlist for your summer, and it's crowd sourced. We've been asking you for songs, suggestions - and you've answered.

BLOCK: We have more than 2,000 so far, including this from listener Heather Krausse-Grabranski.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SUMMERTIME")

DJ JAZZY JEFF AND THE FRESH PRINCE: Drums, please.

BLOCK: You only need to snap one of your overall straps - it's back to the '90s with DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SUMMERTIME")

DJ JAZZY JEFF AND THE FRESH PRINCE: (Singing) School is out and there's a sort of a buzz, but back then I didn't really know what it was, but now I see what have of this, the way that people respond to summer madness.

CORNISH: From celebratory sing-a-longs to necessary ones, the songs that keep you going when the road is long and you're getting a little loopy. Bonnie Tyler time.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART")

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Singing) Turn around, Bright Eyes.

BONNIE TYLER: (Singing) Every now and then I fall apart.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Singing) Turn around, Bright Eyes.

TYLER: (Singing) And I need you now tonight.

CORNISH: Oh, the melodrama.

BLOCK: I love me some Bonnie Tyler. Well, if that didn't do it for you, how about TV drama?

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THEME FROM RAWHIDE")

FRANKIE LAINE: (Singing) Rollin', rollin', rollin', though the streams are swollen, keep them doggies rollin'. Rawhide.

CORNISH: Still need more to perk you up? There's this option. Listener Nita Davis of Belton, Mo. calls it the adult version of "99 Bottles Of Beer On The Wall."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WE DIDN'T START THE FIRE")

BILLY JOEL: (Singing) Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray, South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio. Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television, North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe.

BLOCK: Added bonus - you can explain who some of those people are to your kids.

CORNISH: Knowledge is power.

BLOCK: Or, you can use this song to teach them a whole new word.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I'M GONNA BE")

THE PROCLAIMERS: (Singing) If I get drunk, well, I know I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the man who gets drunk next to you.

CORNISH: That's not the word.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I'M GONNA BE")

THE PROCLAIMERS: (Singing) If I haver...

BLOCK: That's the word.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I'M GONNA BE")

THE PROCLAIMERS: (Singing) ...I know I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the man who's haverin' to you.

CORNISH: Now, some of you might think The Proclaimers, who are Scottish, are saying heaver - since one might heave after getting drunk.

BLOCK: No. The word is haver. It's a Scottish word. And for more clarification, here's our London-based Scottish producer, Rich Preston.

RICH PRESTON, BYLINE: Havering is the kind of talking where you're speaking gibberish, you're yapping away, but you're not really saying anything. Picture two guys in the corner of the pub after one too many whiskeys, perfectly content in their own company and they're havering.

BLOCK: And there you go. Belt it out, and educate.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I'M GONNA BE")

THE PROCLAIMERS: (Singing) I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be the man who's growin' old with you. But I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more.

BLOCK: You can find the ALL THINGS CONSIDERED road trip playlist at npr.org - it's a work in progress - and you can take a look, a listen, and then tell us what you think needs to be on the list. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.