Jazz Compositions: "Route 66" (~wikipedia)

"Route 66"

"(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66", often rendered simply as "Route 66", is a popular song and rhythm and blues standard, composed in 1946 by American songwriter Bobby Troup. It was first recorded in the same year by Nat King Cole, and was subsequently covered by many artists including Chuck Berry in 1961, The Rolling Stones in 1964, and Depeche Mode in 1987. The song's lyrics follow the path of the U.S. Route 66 highway, which used to run a long distance across the U.S., going from Chicago, Illinois, to Los Angeles, California.

Composition and lyrics
Troup conceived the idea for the song while driving west from Pennsylvania to Los Angeles, California, and the lyrics—which include references to the U.S. Highway of the title and many of the cities it passes through—celebrate the romance and freedom of automobile travel. In an interview he once said the tune for the song, as well as the lyric "Get your kicks on Route 66," came to him easily, but the remainder of the lyrics eluded him. More in frustration than anything else he simply filled up the song with the names of towns and cities on the highway.

The lyrics read as a mini-travelogue about the major stops along the route, listing several cities and towns that Route 66 passes through, viz. St. Louis, Missouri; Joplin, Missouri; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Amarillo, Texas; Gallup, New Mexico; Flagstaff, Arizona; Winona, Arizona; Kingman, Arizona; Barstow, California; and San Bernardino, California. Winona is the only town out of sequence: it was a very small settlement east of Flagstaff, and might indeed have been forgotten if not for the lyric "Don't forget Winona," written to rhyme with "Flagstaff, Arizona." Many artists who have covered the tune over the years have changed the initial lyrics, usually to "It goes to St. Louis, down through Missouri..." then continuing on with Oklahoma City and so on. Of the eight states that the actual route passes through, only Kansas and its cities are not mentioned by the song.

A "Diana Krall & Natalie Cole" duet of "Route 66"

Recording history
"Route 66" was first recorded in 1946 by Nat King Cole, whose rendition became a hit on both the U.S. R&B and pop record charts. The version recorded by Perry Como in 1959 is more complete, including the seldom-heard second verse and also the introductory verse.

The song has become a pop standard and has since been covered by numerous other vocal and instrumental artists.

Re-worked version by Billy Bragg
Essex-born English singer-songwriter Billy Bragg also recorded an "anglicised" version of the song called "A13 (Trunk Road to the Sea)" for a John Peel session. In the song—strummed and sung to the same tune as the original—the landmark cities are replaced with English ones along the route of the A13, with Bragg inviting listeners to "Go motoring, on the A-thirteen".

Appearances in other media

• Jane Powell performed the song in the 1948 movie Three Daring Daughters; an apparently umimpressed José Iturbi responded with a virtuoso piano rendition of the song.
• The producers of television show Route 66 commissioned a new theme song because they wanted to avoid making royalty payments for Troup's song.
• The song was performed by Ray Ellington and his Quartet on The Goon Show 'King Solomon's Mines', first broadcast by the BBC on December 2, 1957.
• The Manhattan Transfer recording of the song appears on the soundtrack of the 1981 film Sharky's Machine.
• The 2006 Disney/Pixar film Cars depicts Route 66 as a forgotten and
  faded piece of America, rediscovered by the main character. The film was originally to have been called "Route 66", and the film's soundtrack includes the popular Chuck Berry version and the Grammy nominated "update version" by modern blues rock artist John Mayer.
• Performance artist Kalup Linzy performed the song while guest starring on the daytime soap opera General Hospital.
• The song is performed by the cast of the Columbia Pictures film RV.
• Depeche Mode's (Beatmasters Mix) version appears in the video game Burnout Paradise. Depeche Mode's (The Nile Rodgers Mix) version also appears in the Earth Girls Are Easy movie.

Source: ~wikipedia