“Route 66” by The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones cut "Route 66" for England's Newest Hit Makers in 1964, grabbing a rhythm and blues number that Bobby Troup had written, words and music, back in 1946. Troup dreamed it up on a drive from Pennsylvania to California with his wife Cynthia in their 1941 Buick. She supplied the title, and he finished it in Los Angeles with a map in front of him, stringing together towns along the highway as it runs west from Chicago toward the coast.

In the Stones' hands it's a five-man job. Mick Jagger sings lead and claps along, Keith Richards and Brian Jones both play electric guitar, Bill Wyman handles the bass and Charlie Watts the drums. Andrew Loog Oldham produced, Bill Farley engineered, and the band took the arrangement credit for themselves.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.