Route 66

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page originally published on 30 January 2011; latest edit: 12 March 2022

(above) Route 66 Travel Mat #1: Chicago to Springfield, MO (click map twice for full size, approx. 1300 x 1800). Mats copied from http://roadsidephotos.sabr.org. Click on the maps once or twice to enlarge.

Route 66 Travel Mat #2: Springfield, MO to Shamrock, TX

Route 66 Travel Mat #3: Shamrock, TX to Los Angeles

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1913 Maps: Gallup, NM to Los Angeles, CA

The page “1913 AZ Good Roads” on a site called Bygone Byways, which is apparently defunct as of 6 November 2015, previously included a set of 15 images, mostly maps, covering the far western end of Route 66 from Gallup to Los Angeles, copied from the 1913 Arizona Good Roads Association Illustrated Road Maps and Tour Book. An example:

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(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66 (Bobby Troup) – Troup composed the song in 1946.

Excerpts from the Wikipedia song profile:

It was first recorded in the same year by Nat King Cole…The song’s lyrics follow the path of the U.S. Route 66 highway, which used to run a long distance across the U.S., going from Chicago, Illinois, to Los Angeles, California. The title was suggested to Troup by his first wife, Cynthia.

Troup conceived the idea for the song while driving west from Pennsylvania to Los Angeles, California, and the lyrics — which include references to the U.S. highway of the title and many of the cities it passes through — celebrate the romance and freedom of automobile travel. In an interview he once said the tune for the song, as well as the lyric “Get your kicks on Route 66,” came to him easily, but the remainder of the lyrics eluded him. More in frustration than anything else he simply filled up the song with the names of towns and cities on the highway.

The lyrics read as a mini-travelogue about the major stops along the route, listing several cities and towns that Route 66 passes through, viz. St. Louis, Missouri; Joplin, Missouri; Oklahoma City. Oklahoma; Amarillo, Texas; Gallup, New Mexico; Flagstaff, Arizona; Winona, Arizona; Kingman, Arizona; Barstow, California; and San Bernardino, California.

The King Cole Trio — 1946

Bing Crosby & the Andrew Sisters with Vic Schoen and his Orchestra — recorded on 11 May 1946; issued in June 1946 on Decca 23569, as the B-side of “South America, Take It Away” (Harold Rome)

Nat King Cole and his Trio — Snader telescription, titled Route 66, 1951

Harry James and his Orchestra, vocal: Gordon Polk — from the 1955 Columbia label LP Jazz Session, CL 669

Bobby Troup with Rosemary Clooney and Dorothy Malone on The Rosemary Clooney Show, Season 1, Episode 18; airdate: 16 October 1956

Patti Page — from the 1958 LP Patti Page Sings “Let’s Get Away from It All”

Chuck Berry — (non-single) originally released on his 1961 LP “New Juke Box Hits” (Mono)

Louis Prima with Sam Butera & The Witnesses — from the 1961 LP Doin’ the Twist With Louis Prima — Prima calls for the listeners/dancers to do the Twist, the name of a dance inspired by (and the dance craze set off by) Chubby Checker’s 1960 recording of “The Twist,” which topped the Billboard Hot 100 twice in separate runs in 1960 and 1962.

Bobby Troup Quartet – from “The Julie London Show”, Japan, May 1964 — The composer and his band lay down a tight version of the song.

personnel (according to the Library of Congress):

Bobby Troup – piano
Dennis Budimir – guitar
Don Bagley – bass
Denells Barton – drums

Iza Zając & Jarosław Małys — Jazz Bratysława Festiwal, 2008(?)

Big Friendly Jazz Orchestra — 2008(?), “in their club house, with a guest pianist” says the provider. The name BFJO is evidently another name for the Takasago High School Jazz Band from Takasago, Japan.

Lawanda Smith Jazz Quartet at the Nile Club in Bakersfield, California – posted 31 December 2009

David Matthews and Friends — date unknown; posted (Youtube) 17 August 2009

“A group of Musicians affiliated with the MJO play Dave’s arrangement of this classic piece of Americana. With Carolyn Leonhart Vocals, Chris Hunter Saxophone, Eddie Gomez Bass, Haru Takauchi Guitar, Rob Bargad Piano, Terry Silverlight Drums and the Manhattan Strings.”

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Route 66 – The Marathon Tour – by Greene HD Productions

Episode 1 (of 14)

Description at Vimeo,

Take a trip across the country and back in time. Discover the America of years gone by on historic Route 66. Called the Main Street of America, it linked East and West for nearly 60 memorable years and became part of our national folklore in the process.

This is episode one of our very successful 14 part series that covers The Mother Road in detail. The DVD set can be found at most major DVD retail outlets.

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Route 66 – Official Associations (from the Oklahoma Route 66 Association)

Arizona	www.azrt66.com
California	www.route66ca.org
Illinois	www.il66assoc.org

Missouri	www.missouri66.org
New Mexico	www.rt66nm.org
Oklahoma (this site)	www.oklahomaroute66.com
Texas	www.texasroute66.org
National Historic Route 66 Federation	www.national66.org/resources/
Route 66 Corridor Preservation (Nat’l Parks Service)	www.cr.nps.gov/rt66
Route 66 Preservation Foundation	www.cart66pf.org
Illinois Route 66 Heritage Project	www.illinoisroute66.org
Oklahoma Dept of Transportation	www.okladot.state.ok.us/memorial/route66/route66.htm