A few months back I asked the masses over at Metafilter to list off their favorite travel-oriented songs – from any genre – that evoke the spirit of independent, vagabonding travel.

User OmieWise suggested the wonderfully unique Mountain Goats – “one of the best songwriters in the world [who] has a series of songs about travelling all over the place for reasons as diverse as contract killing, love affairs, and nostalgia.”

A trip to their website includes many free, downloadable mp3s along with a complete song database, most of which include lyrics such as these from a track titled Going to Bolivia:

I cut myself a two-foot switch from some tropical hardwood nearby.

and the sounds of a carnival drifted miraculously

through the air from a thousand miles away.

the monkeys jumped from tree to tree.

it sent a deathly chill through me

in bolivia

Here are a few highlights of the many suggestions my question received (links go directly to lyric sites which may contain popups and annoying ads – you’ve be warned!):

A13 Trunk Road To the Sea – Billy Bragg
Two of Us – The Beatles
Get Out the Map – Indigo Girls
I’ve Been Everywhere – Johnny Cash
On the Road Again – Willie Nelson
The World at Large – Modest Mouse
Highway Chile – Jimi Hendrix
King of the Road – Roger Miller
The Way – Fastball
Another Travelin’ Song – Bright Eyes

For the entire list of suggestions, click here.

Do you have a favorite aritst or song that’s missing from the list? Feel free to share your suggestions in the comment section below.