Since people have been taking the wheel and stepping on the gas, there have been songs written in tribute to cars. Countless big name rappers and pop stars have produced their own car-themed songs, but you can’t beat the classics – here’s our list of ten old-school and modern classic songs about cars and why they’d definitely make it onto our road trip playlist.

Gary Numan – ‘Cars’

Let’s start with an obvious one: Gary Numan’s huge and timeless smash hit, ‘Cars’. Fans of 80’s tunes will know that this song was his move over to entirely synthesised music, but it also revealed him to be more than just a little paranoid with lyrics that include: “Here in my car I feel safest of all, I can lock all my doors. It’s the only place to live.” And “It keeps me stable for days”. Nice.

War – ‘Lowrider’

“All my friends know a lowrider. The lowrider is a little higher.” ‘Lowrider’, by War: fancy a game of GTA: San Andreas, anyone?

Madness – ‘Driving in My Car’

Madness’s 1982 top tune ‘Driving In My Car’ – which wasn’t quite a Jaguar, but a spiffing white Morris Minor called the ‘MaddieMobile’ that could fit in more people than the police would probably have liked, even in the 80’s. Oddly enough, Madness returned to cars in quite a few of their videos, ‘(My Name Is) Michael Caine’, ‘One Better Day’ and ‘Shut Up’ to name three.

Feeder – ‘Buck Rogers’

“He’s got a brand new car. Looks like a Jaguar.” Poor Suggs from Madness must have been a bit jealous. If you’d also been a long-time Gran Turismo 3 player (player…player…player…) then you’d want to include this one too.

Tracy Chapman – ‘Fast Car’

 “You got a fast car, I want a ticket to anywhere… starting from zero, got nothing to lose.” In her Grammy-award winning anthem Tracy must obviously have been referring to our latest spot of engine tuning or new exhaust system, but either way, we’re just so flattered.

John Travolta/Grease – ‘Greased Lightning’

Oh come on, don’t act like you don’t love this song. The video for Greased Lightning might have included a lot more dancing than you’ll see down at your local garage, and there was far more grease in their hair than on their overalls, but what can we say? It’s a hit – especially with lyrics that include the phrase ‘A Real P*ssy Wagon’. Wow, John, don’t hold back with your honesty will you?

Rose Royce – ‘Car Wash’

This song is another guilty pleasure of ours – except that we don’t feel guilty about loving this song at all. Ok, it’s not technically about a car per se, but then, this song couldn’t exist without car washes, right? And you gotta admit, it’s a cracker. Just try not to dance about in your car seat when the riff kicks in: “Come on and sing it with meh…”. We’re talking about the original version of this song here, but we won’t pretend that we don’t love Christina Aguilera’s version just as much too.

The Beatles – ‘Drive My Car’

It’s nice that The Beatles trusted their loved ones to not scratch up their motors so much that they’d let them take the wheel. While we won’t necessarily be singing these lyrics meaningfully to our other halves, we can still admire The Beatles for their trusting natures…or just downright stupidity. Do you know how much a re-spray costs these days?! Anyway, just try and listen to this 1965 smash of a song without singing along. Impossible.

Prince – ‘Little Red Corvette’

Even if your car’s more of a Corsa than a Corvette, you’ll want to shake your hips to Prince’s tribute to the all-American muscle car from the moment the first beat drops. Do this when stopped at traffic lights or junctions to impress the maximum amount of people. Prince doesn’t allow his original music to be on YouTube at all, so enjoy this gorgeous stripped-back cover version in the video above instead.

Queen – ‘I’m in Love with My Car’

The brilliantly suggestive hip work of the incomparable Freddie Mercury went into overdrive in their 1975 hit, even though it was actually sung by drummer Roger Deakin. Why does this song make it onto our playlist? Well, notable lyrics include: “Get a grip on my boy-racer roll-bar, such a thrill when your radials squeal.” And… “When my hand’s on your grease gun, oh, it’s like a disease, son.” They just don’t write ‘em like that any more, do they?