The rhetoric of the road trip...

NOTE: In part two of my reflection on why the Beats matter in the 21st century, it is necessary to offer a tip of the hat to Jack Kerouac. His rhetoric of "the road trip" not only impelled many of us to explore this wild and great land in our younger days, but also gave shape and form to a musical metaphor that evokes something of the longing within every soul, freedom and the quest/journey towards spiritual wisdom.

Before I understood what was going on, I LOVED "Born to Be Wild" by Steppenwolf. From the opening crack of the drums to the thundering guitar riff this song screamed: LET ME BE FREE! My high school band played it with abandon. I danced my ass off to it every chance I could get. And it still makes me smile whenever it pops up on rotation on the local radio. It is no wonder that Dennis Hopper (may he rest in peace) and Peter Fonda insisted that this song set up their rock and roll masterpiece: Easy Rider (which hasn't aged well but was THE rock and roll Western of the 60s.)

Jack Kerouac was the MAN who made "Born to Be Wild" possible: his 1957 book of wandering, adventure, spontaneous roadtrips and the joy of living - On the Road - has been called the "most beautifully executed, the clearest and most important utterance" of Kerouac's generation. (NY TIMES) It evokes what many of us have discovered during either a roadtrip or a pilgrimage: there is much to be discovered about the soul - good, bad and troubling - when you start a journey without a clear or final destination. What's more, if you are open to the wisdom of the road, you will find blessings you didn't know were waiting for you as well as answers to questions you hadn't yet formed.

Clearly Kerouac gave a jazz shape and form to the archetypal story of the hero's quest: Dean Moriarity and Sal Paradise are the bebop cousins of Frodo and Samwise in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. What's more, Kerouac's rhetoric of the roadtrip paves the way for countless folk and rock and roll journeys into the core of life's meaning.

+ Sometimes these pilgrimages are joyful: the entire legacy of the Grateful Dead comes to mind along with songs like Cat Steven's "On the Road to Find Out," Canned Heat's "On the Road Again," "Route 66" in all its incarnations, the Allman Brothers' "Midnight Rider," America's "Ventura Highway," B52's "Love Shack," the Beatles' "Why Don't We Do It in the Road," Chuck Berry's "Back in the USA" and "You Can't Catch Me," Springsteen's "Rosalita" and "Stand On It," Johnny Cash's "I've Been Everywhere," Commander Cody's "Hot Rod Lincoln," Sheryl Crow's "All I Want to Do" and "Everyday Is a Winding Road," Taj Mahal's "Six Days on the Road," Kathy Mattea's "455 Rocket," James Taylor's "Country Road," "U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name," ZZ Top, "Jesus Left Chicago."

+ And sometimes the road is much harder: think Springsteen's "Thunder Road," "Drive All Night" or "Racing in the Street," Jackson Browne's "Runnin' on Empty" and "The Pretender," Harry Chapin's "Taxi," Dire Straight's "Telegraph Road," countless tunes by the Doors including "The End," Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited," "Don't Think Twice It's Alright," and "Tangled Up In Blue," the Eagles' "Hotel California," Steve Earle's "Guitar Town" and "Transcendental Blues," Creedence, "Lodi," Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," Roseanne Cash's take on "Movin' On," Hendrix's version of "All Along the Watchtower," Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGhee," Beatles' "Long and Winding Road," Lucinda William's "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road," or Bob Franke's "Hard Love" and For Real."

Without the Kerouac words and mythology of the road - often a barely paraphrased version of Neil Cassady's drug inspired monologues - contemporary rock and roll would be hard pressed to find a way to evoke the challenge and promise of contemporary living. Fortunately, the most creative rock artists have not remained bound by the often self-centered limits of Kerouac's ramblings. Joni Mitchell, Bob Franke, U2 and Bruce Springsteen along with Mary Chapin Carpenter, Lucinda Williams and Lou Reed have taken the image of the road and teased out new meanings and insights... and they aren't finished with it yet. (Dig this incredible remake of the Boss Man's "Open All Night" a la the Seeger Sessions where Springsteen mixes beat-style poetry with a whole lotta jazz. God do I love this song...)