At some point early in my life as a driver, I realized that some songs are just perfect for the car. These are the songs, or like the songs, that compelled me to open the moonroof on my old car; the songs that make me wish I had a convertible, if only for a few minutes. They have the road built right into them, so that you can hear the seams in the highway within the music.

It’s summer now, and even if you don’t have a convertible, you can still drive with the windows down. And it's almost the 4th of July, which means a lot of people will be logging highway miles. So here it is, my (probably incomplete) list of my favorite driving songs, in no order except for how they popped into my head.

Boys On the Radio, Hole
Hearing this song the other day made me want to make this list. I can’t express how happy I get when this comes on in the car. Which is funny, since the lyrics are a bit of a downer. They're just set to such a powerful, sunny tune that I can't help singing along.

I Won’t Back Down, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
This is the first song I remember making me perk up and say, “Hello. This is perfect for the freeway.” It’s that bass, thrumming away at that perfect tempo. This one won't automatically make me speed, like some of the others will, but it has a certain laid-back determination that can put the world in perspective.

And as long as I'm showing my age and mentioning Tom Petty, I have to throw in American Girl, which is not only a good driving song, but a good wake-up song, a good getting-ready-to-go-out song, a good summer-picnic song, a good soundtrack-to-housework song, and a good lift-you-out-of-a-blue-funk song, to name only a few applications. Keep it around for emergency interventions. It is the musical equivalent of the epi-pen.

Holiday, Green Day
There's no really good reason to include this on a list of great driving songs, except that it makes me holler along and beat rhythms on the steering wheel. I can't say that I like it better in the car than anywhere else. I want to turn it up loud whenever I hear it because it's a great song. Plus I have a wee crush on Billie Joe Armstrong.

American Idiot, the title track off the same album, is almost as good.

When the Levee Breaks, Led Zeppelin
Again, not necessarily a speeding song, but one with a relentless, mesmerizing rhythm. It gives me the feeling it could push the car forward under its own power. Not tremendously fast, but enough to get me to Chicago.

Soul Meets Body, Death Cab for Cutie
For one brief shining moment, we had an excellent radio station here, and I often heard this song on that station as I was driving home from work. This is the most ethereal tune on this list, but it has a brisk rhythm to go with the almost ghostly vocals and is a great pleasure to hear while I'm driving under the stars.

Knock On Wood, Eddie Floyd
It's old, I'll grant you, but I can't imagine this song ever going out of style. It's just too cool. And it's great to listen to a song and know that you're hearing real instruments -- bass, horns, drums -- playing along with a vocalist that would sound just as good live as he does on the recording.

Woke Up This Morning, A3
I never watched The Sopranos. The alternative station in Chicago used to play this song, and that’s how I learned how great it is. When I found out it was the Sopranos theme song and saw the show’s opening, it made perfect sense. Tony was driving. Ergo, the theme was a driving song. How could it be otherwise?

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