Songs that feel like Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
The escalating desperation of a holiday journey from hell, where a rigid suburban commuter is chained to an eternal, well-meaning talker.
- Homeward Bound by Simon & Garfunkel: Captures the profound weariness of being stranded in transit stations and longing to just get back home.
- Night Moves by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band: Evokes the endless midnight stretches of driving through the American midwest in a battered car.
- Waiting Room by Fugazi: Mirrors the manic, teeth-grinding frustration of sitting in endless delays and broken-down transport hubs.
- On the Road Again by Willie Nelson: The ironic anthem for an endless, unwanted journey from one miserable motel to the next.
- Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival: Matches the escalating dread as every single thing that can possibly go wrong on the trip actually does.
- I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers: The stubborn determination to crawl, walk, or hitchhike any distance just to reach the destination.
- Take Me Home, Country Roads by John Denver: The universal yearning for the comfort of a familiar house and family waiting at the end of a long road.
- Running on Empty by Jackson Browne: Embodies the physical and emotional exhaustion of traveling on fumes with a companion who never shuts up.
- Here Comes My Girl by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: The bittersweet motivation that keeps a beleaguered commuter pushing through transit hell toward Thanksgiving dinner.
- Crazy by Patsy Cline: A nod to the slowly fraying sanity of a stressed executive forced to share a rental car with Del Griffith.
