Late Night Driving Songs

Night driving is the best: the traffic has thinned to a trickle, and you're guided to your destination by a ghostly matrix of neon, halogen, and white lines, alone with your thoughts, free to think . . . to dream. What you need is a soundtrack that blends introspection with the rhythm of the highway, and you'll find it right here, with Paul Kelly's banged-up, twanged-up tale of a man hoping to patch things up with his estranged family, "To Her Door," Cyndi Lauper's stunning version of a track first written for Roy Orbison, "I Drove All Night," and the Rolling Stones' brilliant rootsy ballad, "Wild Horses," released in 1971 over a year after it was recorded (at Muscle Shoals, Alabama). It's a long way till daybreak, so keep on driving through to Next Steps.

As your wheels continue to eat up the white lines, and night's black shroud thickens around you, it's time to sink into a batch of tracks guaranteed to make your journey a pleasure . . . from the liberating yells and caffeine-substitute riffs of "Southern Cross" by the Masters Apprentices, to Belle and Sebastian's mellow salutation to the heart of the night, "Waiting for the Moon to Rise." Nick Drake supplements the nocturnal chill-out vibe with his classic "Pink Moon," the title cut on his final album, while Deep Purple is on hand to make sure you don't fall asleep at the wheel with "Black Night," and Foo Fighters harness the stars from the night sky above you with "Aurora." Are we nearly there yet? No, our destination lies beyond Deep Cuts.

By now, you've driven so far into the night that you've conferred explorer status on yourself. Continue the nocturnal quest and become a true Vasco de Gama of pop, uncovering connoisseur's road cuts, like Lamb's beautifully sombre "Gorecki" — inspired by classical composer Henryk Gorecki's Third Symphony a.k.a. The Symphony of Sorrowful Songs — or Grandaddy's reflective piano piece "Underneath the Weeping Willow" from 2000's excellent concept album, The Sophtware Slump. Nouvelle Vague lights your way to the next rest stop with their gently glowing cover of XTC's "Making Plans for Nigel," and Ben Lee stirs the senses before sunrise with a serving of "Apple Candy."

While the world sleeps, you're at the wheel — part road warrior, part nightrider. And, to paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld, you're inside, outside, moving, and still . . . all at the same time. You own the asphalt, and your car becomes something greater than the sum of its parts: a music aficionado's contemplation zone, no less. These Essentials will nourish your mind as you clock up the miles. Among them, we've included the kind of caffeine-rush tracks you'll need to stop you from nodding off at the wheel — like the Proclaimers' wheel-thumpin' "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" and the Dandy Warhols' "Bohemian Like You" — as well as tunes to suit those long stretches when time synchs up with the rhythm of the road: like Massive Attack's "Teardrop" or Air's "Universal Traveler."