4. The Flying Burrito Brothers - Wheels

I remember a recent commercial for some car company (I can't remember which), and the tag line was, "It's not just a car, it's your freedom." There's something sad about that. The Flying Burrito Brothers say, "We've all got wheels to take ourselves away," and they don't even try to mask the sadness and duality behind that freedom. Together with telephones, which help us "say what we can't say," the modern devices we use to connect ourselves can also remove us from others. It's a double edged sword. Is this freedom or alienation? When you "feel your time is almost up" and "destiny is in [your] right hand," one of the greatest freedoms you can enjoy/regret is jumping in your car and driving away. It's all there in the song, from one of the first and best bands to consciously combine rock and country.

5. The Allman Brothers Band - Midnight Rider

Ah, but running can be a rebellious joy, as well. The narrator of this song is giddily defiant: "I'm not gon' let 'em catch me, no." And why should he? "The road goes on forever." The dark tone of "State Trooper" is reversed here, and running from the law is elevated to a thing of beauty, thanks to the always shimmering guitar work of Dickie Betts and Duane Allman, and the deeply soulful intonations of Gregg Allman. The narrator is broke and at the end of his rope, but not scared, and the song is one of the finest examples of highway-as-cathedral. He puts his faith in the Road as another man would put his faith in Jesus. This isn't Southern rock, it's gospel music.

6. Simon and Garfunkel - America

A song as necessary to this list as it is obvious. If you want America, there's only one place to look: the New Jersey Turnpike. Or if you live on the opposite coast, perhaps Highway 1 would suit you better. Or down south, I-10. America is always there, on any highway you want to take. The sense of being lost expressed so well in the song is an integral part of the experience, but so is wonder and grandiosity. And being out of cigarettes, a problem that "America" shares with Roger Miller's "King of the Road."

7. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Lodi

Sometimes the worst punishment is not being on the road. Lodi, California is situated uneasily east of San Francisco and south of Sacramento, in a place that is really no place at all, but a brief stop that, for the narrator this song, turns into a curse. The road is full of these places. If he thinks Lodi is bad, he should try El Campo, Texas sometime. It's a song about being poor as much as anything else - he's "stuck in Lodi" because he's flat fucking broke — but the Road has always been full of the poor and dispossessed. For every success story or gloriously romanticized account of the joys of traveling or running, there's one poor sucker who just can't seem to hack it in the big, mean world. This song is his story.