Life Is A Highway (September 2012 - November 2012)

  • 5 years ago
"Life Is a Highway" is a song written by Tom Cochrane, from his 1991 album Mad Mad World. The song was Cochrane's most famous song, as it was a number one hit in his native Canada. The song also peaked at number six on the Billboard charts in the United States in 1992. The song has been famously covered by Rascal Flatts for the Cars soundtrack, as well as by Chris LeDoux and Jerry Jeff Walker.

In the 1990s Cochrane took his family to West Africa where he helped to raise awareness and money for the World Vision famine relief organization. That experience shaped his next album Mad Mad World which contained "Life Is a Highway". Places mentioned in the song are Mozambique, Memphis, Khyber Pass, and Vancouver.

The song was Cochrane's only Top 40 hit in the United States.

The original video for "Life Is a Highway" was produced by Albert Botha who went on to line produce two films for Saturday Night Live, Superstar starring Molly Shannon and The Ladies Man starring Tim Meadows. The video was shot in Alberta's Badlands, near the city of Drumheller. Many of the shots are in familiar locations along the Dinosaur Trail, including Tom playing guitar amid the 'Hoodoos' and the couple running around the car while it rides the Bleriot Ferry across the Red Deer River. The car which features in the music video is a 1965 Chevrolet Impala Super Sport.

The song was used in 1998 TV advertisements by Cleveland, Ohio-based bank National City Corp.

In 1994 the song was used for promotional purposes for the NBC TV series VIPER as a background track.

In the episode, "Employee Transfer" which aired in the fifth season of The Office, three of the characters sing the song while driving a character from Scranton to Nashua.

This song was in Cheaper by the Dozen.

In 2006, American country band Rascal Flatts recorded an autotuned cover of this song for the Disney/Pixar animated film Cars. The movie was released on June 9, 2006. The song sold a large quantity of digital downloads, leading to a top ten peak on the Billboard Hot 100. In addition, the cover was placed as a bonus track on later versions of the album Me and My Gang, and also was included on their Greatest Hits Volume 1. This version also won the "Favorite Song from a Movie" award at the 33rd People's Choice Awards. The instrumental of the Rascal Flatts' cover version was prominently featured in the Top Gear American special aired February 11, 2007. The song is included on the soundtrack for Lego Rock Band. It topped the 2 million mark in paid downloads as of the chart dated March 28, 2009! As of the chart dated July 21, 2012, the song has sold 2.887 million in the US.

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