Lynyrd Skynyrd Hits The Right Notes For The Road

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

On this week's Winging It, we're talking about road trips and what do you need on a road trip besides endless supplies of Doritos and, of course, your GPS? You need music. Over the next few weeks, we're going to hear from music journalists about their favorite tunes to belt out while driving on the open road. First up is Anthony DeCurtis. He's a contributing editor at Rolling Stone. DeCurtis chose a song called "Call Me The Breeze," the Lynyrd Skynyrd version.

(SOUNDBITE OF LYNYRD SKYNYRD SONG, "CALL ME THE BREEZE")

ANTHONY DECURTIS: This song just jumps out of the gate. You know, it's powered by this, like, just fantastic guitar riff by Gary Rossington.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CALL ME THE BREEZE")

LYNYRD SKYNYRD: (Singing) Call me the breeze. I keep blowin' down the road.

DECURTIS: I feel like a great road song ought to surprise you. Like, once you're in it, you want to feel that it's just going to go on forever.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CALL ME THE BREEZE")

LYNYRD SKYNYRD: (Singing) Well, now they call me the breeze. I keep blowin' down the road.

DECURTIS: There's a sense in which, as well as you know it, there's always parts of it that come up and you go, oh, man, I forgot how great this was. And so, there's a fantastic guitar solo in the song.

(SOUNDBITE OF LYNYRD SKYNYRD SONG, "CALL ME THE BREEZE")

DECURTIS: And then there's a great piano solo.

(SOUNDBITE OF LYNYRD SKYNYRD SONG, "CALL ME THE BREEZE")

DECURTIS: And then, the horns come in at the end, and you're just like, oh, my God, that horn arrangement is just fantastic. And by that point, you know, you're just slamming, you know, the accelerator through the floor of your car. It's just an exciting, fun, exhilarating song.

(SOUNDBITE OF LYNYRD SKYNYRD SONG "CALL ME THE BREEZE")

MARTIN: That was music journalist Anthony DeCurtis. He was talking about his favorite road trip song, Lynyrd Skynyrd's cover of "Call Me The Breeze." We also want to hear from you. Let us know which songs make you want to hit the road. Go to NPR's WEEKEND EDITION Facebook page. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.