“Get Your Kicks on Route 66!” A Song Map of Postwar Migration

Abstract

The popular song hit "Get Your Kicks on Route 66!" was written by Bobby Troup with his wife Cynthia on their transcontinental road trip of 1946 from Pennsylvania to California. The original song is analyzed as a record of overnight travel on U.S. Highway 66 in the immediate euphoria of peacetime opportunity following the Second World War. The route itinerary is mapped from Lancaster to Los Angeles with reconstruction of site visits from original sources. The 1946 Capitol recording sessions by the Nat King Cole Trio are likewise reviewed with the illustrated song map created by Cynthia Troup as a visual memory of the Route 66 road trip. Final analysis of "Route 66" as a musical map of postwar migration to California is presented, defining the historic highway in American popular culture.