Late Night Driving Songs

Night driving is the best: the traffic has thinned to a trickle, and you're following a ghostly matrix of neon, halogen, and cats' eyes, alone with your thoughts, free to think. What you need is a soundtrack that blends introspection with the rhythm of the highway . . . and you'll find it right here, with Billy and the Lost Boys, and more.

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 that resonate like the halo of a street light — from the 21st-century rock balladry of Richard Ashcroft's "Break the Night With Colour" to the tangled guitars of "Saskatschewan" by Les Trois Accords.

By now, you've driven so far into the night that you've conferred explorer status on yourself. Continue the quest and become a true Vasco de Gama of pop, uncovering lesser-known cuts, like the chic electro-pop of Lola Dutronic ("Le Cheveux de Mon Amour"). Here, you'll also find a homegrown heartbreaker in Mae Moore's "Nightbird."

While the world sleeps, you're at the wheel — part road warrior, part night rider. 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. These essentials will nourish your mind as you clock the miles. Among them, perhaps the ultimate late-night driving track: "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins, with its caffeine-rush, wide-awake drum explosion.