From Portland Afoot

"Low-car tunes: A Mixtape" is a list of songs about mass transit, biking and walking, especially in Portland. It started as part of Portland Afoot's August 2011 print magazine, the Art Issue.

If you've got favorite songs along these lines, post them in the comments or just edit them onto the page.

Contents 1 The initial list 1.1 Young Love (Mystery Jets) 1.2 Joe Metro (Blue Scholars) 1.3 Handshakes (Metric) 1.4 North Coast Flyer (Lenny Anderson) 1.5 Beaverton TC (Dr. Something) 1.6 Chillaxin' on the MAX (Dynamix) 1.7 I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) (The Proclaimers) 1.8 The Bicycle Song (David Rovics) 1.9 You're Crazy for Taking the Bus (Jonathan Richman) 1.10 I Missed the Bus (Kris Kross) 1.11 On the Bus Mall (The Decemberists) 1.12 Light Rail Coyote (Sleater-Kinney) 1.13 I Like My Bike (Hurtbird) 2 Songs added after the initial list 2.1 Civil Twilight (The Weakerthans) 2.2 The Bike Song (Mark Ronson & The Business) 2.3 Another One Rides the Bus (Weird Al Yankovic) 2.4 Light Rail (Jeremy Messersmith) 2.5 Sounds of My City (Luck-One) 2.6 LDN (Lily Allen) 2.7 Does this Bus Stop at 82nd Street? (Bruce Springsteen) 2.8 Downtown Train (Tom Waits) 2.9 Bicycle Race (Queen) 2.10 My Bike (Y.N. RichKids)

[edit] The initial list

Our initial list was compiled with help from the anonymous creator of MAXFAQs, Brock Dittus of The Sprocket Podcast and Lillian Karabaic of Portland Afoot's monthly podcast (on which you can definitely expect to hear some of these).

[edit] Young Love (Mystery Jets)

Public transit as romantic lottery.

[edit] Joe Metro (Blue Scholars)

Seattle indie rapper rides the 48 with thinking cap on.

[edit] Handshakes (Metric)

Success, transportational and otherwise, as prison. (See also: Somewhere by Sofia Coppola.)

[edit] North Coast Flyer (Lenny Anderson)

Future NoPo transit activist's 1979 paean to regional rail. Copyright Lenny Anderson, republished online by permission of the artist.

[edit] Beaverton TC (Dr. Something)

"Portland's premier purveyors of post-electric novelty ballads" rhyme "Washington" with "Tualatin" and nearly pull it off. Downloadable here on a name-your-price basis.

[edit] Chillaxin' on the MAX (Dynamix)

2004: TriMet hires PDX act to prove that hip-hop should never, ever be written on commission.

[edit] I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) (The Proclaimers)

Tight jeans, loose hair, true love. (Immortalized -- in Spokane, no less -- by Benny & Joon.)

[edit] The Bicycle Song (David Rovics)

PDX-based protest singer briefly explains bike fun. (Downloadable for free here; listen to more of Rovics' work here.)

[edit] You're Crazy for Taking the Bus (Jonathan Richman)

Punk pioneer briefly explains Greyhound.

Though Richman's defining hit was a song about the joys of driving in the suburbs, he's written quite a lot of songs about walkable urbanism, on things like mass transit (The Wheels on the Bus), neighborhood commercial districts (Corner Store), and sterile workplace-only downtowns (Lonely Financial Zone and Government Center.)

[edit] I Missed the Bus (Kris Kross)

Important life lesson from 90s boy genius.

[edit] On the Bus Mall (The Decemberists)

Frontman Colin Meloy tries his hand at an Only on the Bus in downtown Portland but can't resist using the word "urchin."

[edit] Light Rail Coyote (Sleater-Kinney)

Fauna boards MAX; Brownstein falls hard for Portlandia.

[edit] I Like My Bike (Hurtbird)

Cake-esque local rockers go commercial ... Portland style.

[edit] Songs added after the initial list

[edit] Civil Twilight (The Weakerthans)

John Sampson's ode to heartbroken Winnipeg bus drivers, submitted by Aaron Brown.

[edit] The Bike Song (Mark Ronson & The Business)

"The catchiest bike song ever," in the judgment of Spencer Boomhower.

[edit] Another One Rides the Bus (Weird Al Yankovic)

The clown prince of musical satire isn't the only weird one on his bus.

[edit] Light Rail (Jeremy Messersmith)

Value proposition for Minnesotans, by Minnesotans: "when the car's too spendy and the bike's too slow." Submitted by Aaron Brown.

[edit] Sounds of My City (Luck-One)

Portland-based rapper Luck-One speaks to the wisdom gained while riding TriMet.

[edit] LDN (Lily Allen)

Early single by the extremely British popstress, about the unexpected pleasures of a suspended driver's license when you happen to live in London.

[edit] Does this Bus Stop at 82nd Street? (Bruce Springsteen)

Springsteen's very first road song was about the exhilaration of joining 1972 New York City's urban mash on the way to see his girlfriend uptown.

[edit] Downtown Train (Tom Waits)

The great promise and terror of public transit: running into your ex in a room neither of you can dash out of.

[edit] Bicycle Race (Queen)

Though it's probably the top-charting song about riding a bike, the title misleads: this is less about racing and more about riding for joy.

[edit] My Bike (Y.N. RichKids)

Fresh off of their runaway viral video "Hot Cheetos and Takis," Minneapolis' youngest hip hop collective speak to their love of their bicycles.