You know the tune. Now learn the astonishing tale behind ‘(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66’

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In 1946, just after World War II, a young songwriter named Bobby Troup drove west from Pennsylvania. That trip along Route 66, which was already twenty years old, unexpectedly helped turn the highway into a lasting symbol of American independence and the open road.

At 25, Sammy Cahn had already achieved a lot: he’d graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with an economics degree, written a popular song called “Daddy” (recorded by Sammy Kaye), worked with the famous bandleader Tommy Dorsey, and served in the Marines during World War II. However, he felt he needed to be in Los Angeles to revive his career as a songwriter and actor. So, he and his wife, Cynthia, drove their 1941 Buick westward to California.

The couple began their journey on U.S. Highway 40 and then joined Route 66 in Illinois. As Troup shared with author Michael Wallis in his book “Route 66: The Mother Road,” his wife, Cynthia, came up with a catchy phrase that she believed could be a song lyric.

“Get your kicks on Route 66,” she said.

Troup took it from there, creating “a kind of musical map of the highway.”

According to Troup’s recollection, shared in the introduction to a book about Route 66 by Tom Snyder, their journey included seeing Louis Armstrong perform in St. Louis and visiting Meramec Caverns in Missouri. They found much of the road to be in poor condition – often just two narrow lanes and very winding as it went through the Ozarks and Kansas. They also encountered a snowstorm while traveling through Texas.

About halfway through the car ride, the lively song was nearing its end. Less than a week after arriving, Troup got the opportunity to play some of his songs for Nat “King” Cole, who was already well-known for hits like “Sweet Lorraine” and “Straighten Up and Fly Right.”

A young, anxious songwriter played a rough draft of a song he’d written about life on the road. He shared it with the group while they relaxed by a piano after Cole finished his final performance of the night at the Trocadero on Sunset Strip.

In a later interview, Troup explained that he stepped onto the platform, adjusted the piano bench, and it unexpectedly tipped over, causing him to fall backwards.

Troup remembered that Cole actually enjoyed the experience so much he even joined him at the piano and played along.

It was February when the song started to come together. By mid-March, it was finished and Cole was recording it at a studio on Santa Monica Boulevard, which is a section of the historic Route 66.

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The finished version name-checked a dozen cities along the route, including these words:

Now you go through Saint Looey

Joplin, Missouri,

And Oklahoma City is mighty pretty.

You see Amarillo,

Gallup, New Mexico,

Flagstaff, Arizona.

Don’t forget Winona,

Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino.

Won’t you get hip to this timely tip

When you make that California trip

Get your kicks on Route 66.

Capitol Records released the song “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66” in April, and it quickly became a hit, reaching number 11 on the Billboard charts. Later that year, Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters recorded their own version, which climbed to number 14.

The song became popular just as Americans were starting to travel more for fun after the war, but for many African Americans, it was a bittersweet reminder of reality. Despite using the Green Book – a guide helping Black travelers find safe places – it would have been dangerous and even against the law for Nat King Cole, or any Black person, to simply stop for a meal or a night’s rest along Route 66. This was before major changes in society like Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in baseball and the integration of the U.S. Army.

In her 2020 book, “Overground Railroad,” Candacy Taylor points out that despite the promise of freedom offered by the open road, it wasn’t accessible to everyone. Taylor notes that as late as the 1950s, around 35% of the counties along Route 66 prohibited Black drivers after 6 p.m., and six of the eight states it passed through still enforced segregation. While Cole helped popularize Route 66, Taylor argues that the relaxed travel experience he advertised wasn’t intended for Black Americans like himself.

Two years after releasing his hit song, Nat King Cole and his family moved into a large house in Hancock Park, becoming the first Black family in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, they faced intense hostility from some neighbors, who attempted to drive them away through acts of vandalism and racism, including poisoning the family dog and burning hateful messages onto their lawn.

The Coles continued to live in their home on South Muirfield Road. They were there in 1956 when Nat Cole became the first African American to host a national TV show, and they remained there in 1965 when he sadly passed away from cancer at the age of 45.

After divorcing Cynthia and marrying singer Julie London, Sammy Troup continued to create music, releasing over a dozen albums and writing songs that were covered by artists like Little Richard and Miles Davis. He also found success as an actor, appearing in many television shows, playing Dr. Joe Early on the 1970s series “Emergency!”, and having a minor role in Robert Altman’s 1970 film “MASH.”

The song continued to be popular over the years, with many artists recording their own versions, including Perry Como, Sammy Davis Jr., Chuck Berry, the Rolling Stones, and more recently, artists like John Mayer. Chuck Berry’s and John Mayer’s recordings even appeared in the 2006 film “Cars.” The songwriter, Sammy Troup, who passed away in 1999, always remembered how much of an impact the song had on his life and on how people viewed travel.

Troup explained to Wallis that the song allowed him to buy a home and remain in California. He didn’t initially understand he was composing a piece about such an iconic route, stating, ‘I just thought I was writing about a road, not a legend.’

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2026-05-12 13:34