Life Is a Highway

Background and release

Cochrane has stated that "Life Is a Highway" was originally conceived in the 1970s as "Love Is a Highway" while he was still a member of Red Rider, but was shelved at that time because he felt the unfinished song was unusable. Following a trip with his family to eastern Africa with the World Vision famine relief organization, Cochrane revisited the song on the advice of his friend John Webster, an instrumentalist on the Mad Mad World album. In a 2017 interview with The Canadian Press to mark the song's 25th anniversary, Cochrane said Webster encouraged him to revisit the demo recording, which at that point only had mumbled vocals and improvised lyrics, but not the song's well-known chorus. "(The song) became a pep talk to myself... saying you can't really control all of this stuff, you just do the best you can," he says. Cochrane says he was trying to make sense of the poverty he witnessed on his trip, which he found "shocking and traumatic".

Eventually, the original demo version was released on the 25th-anniversary reissue of Mad Mad World under the original title "Love Is a Highway". He later said the up-tempo spirit of the song came from looking for something positive to "hang the experience on." Most of the vocals on the track were recorded in Cochrane's small home studio. The song was Cochrane's only top-40 hit in the United States, reaching number six on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100. In Canada, the song stayed at number one for two weeks, and three other singles from the album charted within the top 10; "No Regrets" peaked at number three, "Sinking Like a Sunset" reached number two, and "Washed Away" climbed to number seven. In Australia and New Zealand, the single peaked at number two in both countries. Elsewhere, it became a top-40 hit in Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden.

Music video

The music video for "Life Is a Highway" was directed by David Storey and produced by Albert Botha. The video was shot in Alberta's Badlands, near the town of Drumheller. Many of the shots are in familiar locations along the Dinosaur Trail, including Cochrane playing guitar amid the hoodoos and the couple, Kait Shane and Brennan Elliott, running around the car while it rides the Bleriot Ferry across the Red Deer River. It also features an older man (gas station attendant), a couple (tall man, short wife), two women (Jacqueline and Joyce Robbins) from an Anabaptist religious order (Alberta has a population of Hutterites), and two First Nations men, one wearing a baseball cap with the words "Oka Standoff" printed on it, referring to the Oka Crisis (a land dispute between a group of Mohawk people and the town of Oka, Quebec). The car featured in the music video is a 1965 Chevrolet Impala Super Sport.

Track listings

• 7-inch, cassette, and mini-CD single

1. "Life Is a Highway" – 4:24
2. "Emotional Truth" – 5:59

• UK CD single

1. "Life Is a Highway" – 4:24
2. "Emotional Truth" – 5:59
3. "Get Back Up" – 4:39

• European maxi-CD single

1. "Life Is a Highway" – 4:24
2. "Emotional Truth" – 5:59
3. "Lunatic Fringe" (live) – 5:00

Personnel

Personnel are taken from the Mad Mad World liner notes.

• Tom Cochrane – lead and backing vocals, electric guitar, harmonica, pre-production, arrangements
• John Webster – organ, percussion, pre-production, arrangements
• Ken "Spider" Sinnaeve – bass
• Mickey Currey – drums
• Molly Johnson – backing vocals
• John Cody – backing vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Chris LeDoux version

| B-side = Hooked on an 8 Second Ride In 1998, Chris LeDoux covered "Life Is a Highway" for his album One Road Man. Changes include the intro, timing of vocal entrances on the chorus, and location names between the first and second chorus. LeDoux's version was released as a single the following year and peaked at number 64 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart during the week of June 12, 1999, and remained at the spot for nine weeks.

Music video

The music video for the song, directed by Michael Salomon, takes place on multiple roads and highways as well as a blue and red static themed room. When on roads and highways, there is a chance for LeDoux to appear on a television that is sitting on a sidewalk or grass, however, while the background behind LeDoux (that appears on the TV) is the same background as everything behind the TV itself, LeDoux does not appear to be standing behind the TV. In most locations, LeDoux is walking down a road as at the start of the music video. The video ends with LeDoux singing the chorus while appearing on a flap-down TV inside of someone's car, then transitioning to LeDoux being once again in the static room and then walking out of it. After LeDoux leaves the room, the screen slowly fades to black and the video ends.

Charts

Rascal Flatts version

• Lyric Street
• Walt Disney
• Dann Huff
• Rascal Flatts

American country music band Rascal Flatts recorded a cover of the song for the Pixar animated film Cars, which was released on June 9, 2006. The song sold a large quantity of digital downloads, leading to a number seven peak on the Billboard Hot 100 (one position lower than Cochrane's original version). In addition, the cover was placed as a bonus track on later versions of the album Me and My Gang, and also was included on Greatest Hits Volume 1 (2008) and Twenty Years of Rascal Flatts: The Greatest Hits (2020). This version also won the "Favorite Song from a Movie" and "Favorite Remake" awards at the 33rd People's Choice Awards. Rascal Flatts re-recorded the song with Lzzy Hale on their 2025 album Life Is a Highway: Refueled Duets. With over 879 million lifetime streams on Spotify as of September 2025, the song is the band's most streamed song of all time.

The instrumental of the Rascal Flatts' cover version was prominently featured in the Top Gear: US Special, which aired February 11, 2007. The song is included on the soundtrack for Cars Mater-National Championship and Lego Rock Band. It topped the two million mark in paid downloads as of the chart dated March 28, 2009. As of March 2013, the song has sold over three million copies in the US. On July 14, 2015, Scott Walker, Republican Governor of Wisconsin, launched his presidential campaign as Republican Party nominee in Waukesha, Wisconsin using the song. On December 8, 2020, Harmonix announced that the cover would be featured on the video game FUSER, as a DLC on December 10, 2020. The song is also featured in video games such as Rocket League.

Music video

The music video portrays the three band members pulling into a drive-in theater driving three vintage vehicles. The cars allude to three characters from Cars: Lightning McQueen, Doc Hudson and Mater. As the projector rolls, scenes from the film are shown as the band plays through the number. It was directed by Shaun Silva. The video was nominated for Group Video of the Year at the 2007 CMT Music Awards, losing to the band's other nominated video for "What Hurts the Most".

Charts

The Rascal Flatts version subsequently became a hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it peaked at number seven. Even though it was not officially released to country radio, many country stations played the song as an album cut, overlapping with their then-current country single "My Wish". The unsolicited country airplay brought "Life Is a Highway" to number 18 on the US Hot Country Songs chart. The song has sold 3.4 million copies in the US as of June 2016.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

References

1. Harrington, Jim. (2015). "1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die". [[Rizzoli Libri.
2. Friend, David. (January 5, 2017). "Tom Cochrane reflects on success of 'Life is a Highway'". The Toronto Star/The Canadian Press.
3. (February 22, 1992). "RPM 100 Hit Tracks". [[Library and Archives Canada]].
4. (May 30, 1992). "RPM 100 Hit Tracks". [[Library and Archives Canada]].
5. (November 7, 1992). "RPM 100 Hit Tracks". [[Library and Archives Canada]].
6. (1991). "Life Is a Highway". [[Capitol Records]].
7. (1991). "Life Is a Highway". Capitol Records.
8. (1991). "Life Is a Highway". Capitol Records.
9. (1991). "Life Is a Highway". Capitol Records.
10. (1991). "Life Is a Highway". Capitol Records.
11. (1991). "Mad Mad World".
12. (November 9, 1991). "Hits of the World: Canada".
13. Nanda Lwin. (1999). "Top 40 Hits: The Essential Chart Guide". Music Data Canada.
14. (July 25, 1992). "Top 50 Airplay Chart".
15. [https://www.popmusichistory.co.uk/_files/ugd/b4848d_4f9128176360450ba51be67a0468e9fa.pdf Cash Box Chart Entries 1990-1996]
16. "RPM 100 Hit Tracks of 1991".
17. "ARIA Top 100 Singles for 1992". [[Australian Recording Industry Association.
18. "End of Year Charts 1992". [[Recorded Music NZ]].
19. "Billboard Top 100 – 1992".
20. (December 26, 1992). "The Year in Music: Top Album Rock Tracks".
21. (December 26, 1992). "Awards: Top 50 Pop Singles".
22. Lwin, Nanda. "Top 100 singles of the 1990s". [[Jam!]].
23. (March 22, 1992). "New Release Summary – Product Available from : 23/03/92: Singles".
24. (June 13, 1992). "New Releases: Singles".
25. "ライフ・イズ・ハイウェイ {{!}} トム・コクラン". [[Oricon]].
26. (2006). "Me and My Gang". Lyric Street Records.
27. (June 6, 2025). "Review: Rascal Flatts re-invent & re-imagine on new album 'Life is a Highway – Refueled'".
28. "Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale featured on new version of ‘Life Is a Highway’ with Rascal Flatts".
29. "Week Ending March 15, 2009: The Idol With The Most". Chart Watch.
30. Grein, Paul. (March 20, 2013). "Week Ending March 17, 2013. Songs: The Great Chart Robbery Of 2013". [[Yahoo! News.
31. Bjorke, Matt. (June 28, 2016). "Top 30 Digital Country Singles Report: June 28, 2016". Roughstock.
32. "Veckolista Heatseeker, vecka 17". [[Sverigetopplistan]].
33. "Billboard Hot 100 Year-End 2006". [[Prometheus Global Media]].