MY STAR CAR TUNES: ‘Rockin’ Down The Highway’ Doobie Brothers

Released 1972
‘ Rockin’ Down The Highway’ was a lesser known single off the ‘Toulouse Street’ album which put the Doobies on the musical map. Note the 1972 release date which indicated two important features of that time period-cheap gas and giant land dinosaurs like Eldorados and Imperials.

These giants were not thrifty on gas but that was a non- issue in 1972 because the oil was still cheap and non-political at that point. You could own an oversized car with an engine the size of a teenaged blue whale and still afford this 10 m.p.g. gas hog as a daily driver.
Size mattered in the early 70s and the open highway was the real playground for these big boys of the freeway. ’Rockin’ Down The Highway’ was the perfect road anthem for these last days of cheap high octane leaded gas and the oversized land barges that could run all day at 85 in arm chair comfort.

They could eat up pavement faster than they ate up fuel and that was the point of this Doobie Brothers classic driving song. The real trick was not to let a Doobie Brother actually get behind the wheel and rock down any highway after he lived up to his name in 1972.