Roadtrip Playlist: 50 Songs About All 50 States
Remember Chandler's "dumb states game" from the Thanksgiving Friends episode, when he asked everyone to name every single state? Our playlist is similar to that, only this time, in addition to knowing all 50 states, we named a song to go along with each one. Sure, Jay Z's "Empire State of Mind," Rihanna's "California King Bed," or Taylor Swift's "Dark Blue Tennessee" may come to mind, but you'll be surprised at how many states artists have used as inspiration. Whether you're going on a long cross-country road trip or just a casual, windows-down drive with your friends, take this playlist with you. You’ll love listening to it as you hit up all the corners of this country.
1/52Go ahead, click through to your destination, hometown, or all 50 states. No matter where you're headed, we got you covered.
2/52Alabama: "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Sweet home Alabama
Where the skies are so blue
Sweet home Alabama
Lord, I'm coming home to you
3/52Alaska: "There's No Penguins in Alaska" by Chiodos
She loves me, she loves me not
My love was my decay
She loves me, she loves me not
He repeated to himself over and over
These petals decide what's next for you and I...
4/52Arizona: "Arizona" by Kings Of Leon
That taste
All I ever needed
All I ever wanted
Too dumb to surrender
5/52Arkansas: "Mary Queen of Arkansas" by Bruce Springsteen
Mary queen of Arkansas, it's not too early for dreamin'
The sky is grown with cloud seed sown and a bastard's love can be redeeming
Mary, my queen, your soft hulk is reviving
No, you're not too late to desecrate, the servants are just rising
6/52California: "California King Bed" by Rihanna
In this California king bed
We're ten thousand miles apart
I've been California wishing on these stars
For your heart for me
My California king
7/52Colorado: "Colorado Sunrise" 3OH!3
And if I had something to say to you, I'd whisper it softly
Kiss you on your rosey lips and never let you off me
Shiver on our roof and see your face lit by starlight
Hold you through the night and watch that Colorado sunrise
8/52Connecticut: "I Found My Mind in Connecticut" by Cage
My brain left me in PA, departed DC
Then begged me to take it back cryin' in a bar in CT
Life is so strange, so is god with games
9/52Delaware: "Hello, I’m in Delaware" by City and Colour
So there goes my life
Passing by with every exit sign
It's been so long
Sometimes I wonder how I will stay strong
No sleep tonight
I'll keep on driving these dark highway lines
And as the moon fades
One more night gone, only twenty more days
10/52Florida: "My House" Flo Rida
Welcome to my house
Baby, take control now
We can't even slow down
We don't have to go out
Welcome to my house
Play that music too loud
Show me what you do now
We don't have to go out
Welcome to my house
Welcome to my house
11/52Georgia: "Georgia" by Vance Joy
And I could easily lose my mind
The way you kiss me will work each time
Calling me to come back to bed
Singing Georgia on my mind
12/52Hawaii: "Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride" by Jump 5
I'd surf til the sun sets
Beyond the horizon
A wiki wiki mai lohi lohi
Lawe mai i ko papa he'e valu
Flyin' by on the Hawaiian roller coaster ride
13/52Idaho: "Idaho" by Josh Ritter
All that love all those mistakes
What else can a poor man make?
So I gave up a life of crime
I gave it to a friend of mine
Something else was on my mind
The only ghost I'm haunted by
I hear her howling down below
Idaho oh Idaho
14/52Illinois: "Chicago" by Michael Jackson
I met her on my way to Chicago
Where she was all alone
And so was I
So I asked her for her name
15/52Indiana: "Indiana" by Bayside
You've got me dangling by the thread
That holds my mind together
I might spill my thoughts out on the ground
But I'll think of you on the way down
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16/52Iowa: "Iowa" by Slipknot
So blue, so broken
Paper doll decays
I haven't left you yet
So cold, subversive
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17/52Kansas: "Carry on Wayward Son" by Kansas
Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more
18/52Kentucky Rain: "Kentucky Rain" by Elvis Presley
Kentucky rain keeps pouring down
And up ahead's another town
That I'll go walking though
With the rain in my shoes,
Searchin' for you
In the cold Kentucky rain,
In the cold Kentucky rain
19/52Louisiana: "Louisiana Land" by Ok Go
The penthouse paupers need your help
So everybody lend a hand
And maybe they'll get you a real sweet price
On the Louisiana land, alright
20/52Maine: "Into Your Arms" by The Maine
I'm fallin' in love
But it's fallin' apart
I need to find my way back to the start
When we were in love
Oh things were better than they are
Let me back into
Into your arms
Into your arms
21/52Maryland: "Baltimore" by Prince feat. Eryn Allen Kane
Nobody got in nobody's way
So I guess you could say it was a good day
At least a little better than the day in Baltimore
Does anybody hear us pray
For Michael Brown or Freddie Gray?
Peace is more than the absence of war
Absence of war
22/52Massachusetts: "Massachusetts" by The Bee Gees
Feel I'm goin' back to Massachusetts
Something's telling me I must go home
And the lights all went out in Massachusetts
The day I left her standing on her own
23/52Michigan: "Especially in Michigan" by Red Hot Chili Peppers
Life is my friend
Rake it up to take it in
Wrap me in your cinnamon
Especially in Michigan
...Well I could be your friend
24/52Minnesota: "Minnesota" by Bon Iver
Armour let it through
Borne the arboretic truth you kept posing
Sat down in the suit
Fixed on up it wasn't you by finished closing
25/52__ Mississippi: "Mississippi Girl" by Faith Hill__
Well, it's a long way from Star, Mississippi
To the big stage I'm singing on tonight
And sometimes the butterflies still get me
When I'm in the spotlight
26/52Missouri: "Missouri Waltz" by Johnny Cash
Hush a bye my baby slumber time is coming soon
Rest your head on mommie's breast while daddy hums a tune
Are the old folks were humming the banjos were strumming
And the soft breezes sigh as in days long gone by
Way down in Missouri where I heard this melody
27/52Montana: "Best Of Both Worlds" by Hannah Montana (Miley Cyrus)
You get the best of both worlds
Chill it out, take it slow
Then you rock out the show
You get the best of both worlds
Mix it all together and you know that it's the best of both
You know the best of both worlds
28/52Nebraska:"Nebraska Bricks" by Saves the Day
The need for a song to sing me to sleep still rings true
And I always knew that there wasn't glue strong enough
To sew these roots together
29/52Nevada: "Vegas" by All Time Low
I would've married you in Vegas
Had you given me the chance to say "I do"
Could I make it more obvious, could you
Be anymore obvious
30/52New Hampshire: "New Hampshire" by Sonic Youth
B.B. King just turns on
The New Hampshire boys
Steve and Joe
Have gone beyond
Doing it for life
31/52New Jersey: "Timberwolves at New Jersey" Taking Back Sunday
Get up, get up
Come on, come on, lets go
There’s just a few things
I think that you should know
Those words at best
were worse than teenage poetry
32/52New Mexico: "Albuquerque" by Neil Young
I've been flyin'
Down the road
And I've been starvin' to be alone
And independent from the scene
That I've known
Albuquerque
33/52New York: "Empire State Of Mind" Jay Z feat. Alicia Keys
In New York
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There's nothing you can't do
Now you're in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you
Let's hear it for New York, New York, New York
34/52North Carolina: "Wagon Wheel" by Old Crow Medicine Show
Headed down south to the land of the pines
I'm thumbin' my way into North Caroline
Starin' up the road
And pray to God I see headlights
I made it down the coast in seventeen hours
Pickin' me a bouquet of dogwood flowers
And I'm a hopin' for Raleigh
I can see my baby tonight
35/52North Dakota: "North Dakota" by Tigirlily
And the Southern boys with their lifted toys
Make me blush when they come around
But I've said it before & I'll say it again
I'm from this Northern town in North Dakota
36/52Ohio: "Look at Miss Ohio" by Miranda Lambert
Oh me, oh my, oh
Would ya look at Miss Ohio
She's a running around with her rag top down
She says I wanna do right, but not right now
37/52Oklahoma: "Blown Away" by Carrie Underwood
There's not enough rain in Oklahoma
To wash the sins out of that house
There's not enough wind in Oklahoma
To rip the nails out of the past
38/52Oregon: "Portland" by The Replacements
It's too late to turn back, here we go
Portland, oh no
It's too late to turn back, here we go
Portland, oh no
© Meredith Truax39/52Pennsylvania: "Black and Yellow" by Wiz Khalifa
Yeah, uh huh, you know what it is (what it is)
Everything I do, I do it big
Yeah, uh huh, screamin' that's nothin'
What I pulled off the lot, that's stuntin'
Reppin' my town when you see me you know everything
Black and yellow
Black and yellow
Black and yellow
Black and yellow
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40/52Rhode Island: "Sweet Rhode Island Red" by Ike & Tina Turner
They called me Sweet Rhode Island Red
Sweet Rhode Island Red
Sweet Rhode Island Red
Sweet Rhode Island Red
Sweety is what they said about Sweet Rhode Island Red
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41/52South Carolina: "Carolina On My Mind" James Taylor
In my mind I'm goin' to Carolina
Can't you see the sunshine
Can't you just feel the moonshine
Ain't it just like a friend of mine
To hit me from behind
Yes I'm goin' to Carolina in my mind
42/52South Dakota: "Fire" by Autumn Hill
We drove down to California
Did we lose ourselves on the way?
Ran out of gas in South Dakota
And we hadn't slept in two days
43/52Tennessee: "Dark Blue Tennessee" by Taylor Swift
Missing you like this is such sweet sorrow
Won't you come back to me?
I'll be here, today and here tomorrow
In dark blue Tennessee
44/52Texas: "Houston Old Head" by A$AP Rocky
Where the welcome back? Where the welcome at? My sneaker tough
This is for my old head go on turn your speakers up
Rocky, where you been? I been tryna make my ends meet
45/52Utah: "Salt Lake City" by The Beach Boys
Down in Utah, the guys and I dig a city called Salt Lake
It's got the grooviest kids that's why we never get tired of Salt Lake
And the way the kids talk so cool is an out of sight thing
And the number one radio station makes the town really swing, yeah
46/52Vermont: "Moonlight In Vermont" by Frank Sinatra
Pennies in a stream
Falling leaves a sycamore
Moonlight in Vermont
Gentle finger waves
Ski trails down a mountain side
Snowlight in Vermont
47/52Virginia: "Virginia" by Elliott Yamin
Just when I cross that state line
I know exactly where my heart lies
Virginia, i've comin home to you
48/52Washington: "Hello Seattle" by Owl City
Hello Seattle, I am a mountaineer
In the hills and highlands
I fall asleep in hospital parking lots
And awake in your mouth
Hello Seattle, I am a manta ray
Deep beneath the blue waves
I'll crawl the sandy bottom of Puget Sound
And construct a summer home
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49/52West Virginia: "Take Me Home, Country Roads" by John Denver
Almost heaven, West Virginia
Blue ridge mountains, Shenandoah river
Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains, growin' like a breeze
50/52Milwaukee: "Man From Milwaukee" by Hanson
I've been sitting here too long by a man from Milwaukee
He's been talking too long on his yellow walkie talkie
He's been talking to Mars but I think he's wacky
He says they'll come get him, come get him some day
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51/52Wyoming: "Water Liars" by Wyoming
I call to you, I sang for you
I lose you drop by drop
And I thank you for taking all you ever could from me
You showed me the world is just the things you keep to lose
