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 cats' eyes, alone with your thoughts, free to roam. What you need is a soundtrack that blends introspection with the rhythm of the highway . . . and you'll find it here, with Coldplay, the Boss, the Smiths, and more.

Keep on driving 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 Rolling Stones' admonishment to boy racers, "Driving Too Fast" from 2005's A Bigger Bang (well, they're getting on a bit, bless 'em) to Stereophonics' ode to the desolation of a late-night petrol station, "I Stopped to Fill My Car Up".

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 lesser known cuts, like "Endless Road and Moonlit Night" by Los Angeles-based artist Promis, and indie folk gem "Not Coming Home" by Georgia's Night Driving in Small Towns, a vehicle for the gorgeous vocal of Andrea Rogers.

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 tarmac, 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 Cyndi Lauper's "I Drove All Night" and Snow Patrol's "Headlights on Dark Roads".