List of car crash songs
The car crash song emerged as a popular pop and rock music teenage tragedy song during the 1950s and 1960s at a time when the number of people being killed in vehicle collisions was rising fast in many countries. In the United Kingdom, the number of fatalities on UK roads rose to a peace-time peak of 7,985 in 1966 before then falling to a new low of 2,222 in 2009. The theme also appears in country and other music styles.
| Title | Artist | Year | Comment |
| "30,000 Pounds of Bananas" | Harry Chapin | 1974 | From the album Verities & Balderdash. About the crash of a truck driver bringing a load of bananas into Scranton, Pennsylvania, based on a real truck accident. |
| "7–11" | The Ramones | 1981 | From their album Pleasant Dreams. The arrangement of this song suggests a strong 1950s/early 1960s teenage pop influence with a doo-wop chorus. |
| "The Reason" | Hoobastank | 2004 | From the album The Reason |
| "Airbag" | Radiohead | 1997 | According to the lyrics, "an airbag saved my life." |
| "Always Crashing in the Same Car" | David Bowie | 1977 | From the album Low |
| "Angels in Top Hats" | House of Heroes | 2005 | Talks about a girl lying in the hospital, and the song later reveals that she was in a car and it had been raining when the crash happened. From House of Heroes |
| "A Sight for Sore Eyes" | Tom Waits | 1977 | Mentions that a fellow named Nash was killed in a crash. The story is told about how he spun out, hit a telephone pole and died with the radio on. From Foreign Affairs |
| "The Approaching Curve" | Rise Against | 2006 | "Up ahead there was a curve approaching. She made no indications of slowing." From The Sufferer & the Witness |
| "Arthur" | Hoodoo Gurus | 1984 | "A black gelato van, finished for the day, met with Arthur's taxi head-on, down St. Kilda way" |
| "The Artist in the Ambulance" | Thrice | 2003 | "Late night, brakes lock, hear the tires squeal. Red light can't stop so I spin the wheel." From The Artist in the Ambulance |
| "Bat Out of Hell" | Meat Loaf | 1977 | From "Bat Out of Hell" |
| "The Beginning of My End" | The Unifics | 1968 | - |
| "The Ballad of Thunder Road" | Robert Mitchum | 1957 | Moonshine runner dies when his car speeds off the road |
| "Big League" | Tom Cochrane & Red Rider | 1988 | "Hit a truck doing 70 in the wrong lane in the big league". |
| "B.J. the D.J." | Stonewall Jackson | 1964 | Title protagonist – a hard-living, sleep-deprived disc jockey – dies when his car crashes off the road. |
| "Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots" | The Cheers | 1955 | A motorcyclist vanishes after hitting a truck. |
| "Black Ice" | My Friend the Chocolate Cake | 2011 | From their album Fiasco. Lyrics speak of a fight between a husband and wife, then the wife dies in a car crash. Contains "Black ice took her away from me", speaks directly of a car crash. |
| "Brought Up That Way" | Taylor Swift | 2009 | Recorded for Fearless but formally unreleased. A song about the relationship between a girl and her father ends with the man receiving a phone call from a police officer stating, "Sir, there's been an accident A drunken driver missed an overpass, and Emily, she's fading fast." |
| "Buses and Trains" | Bachelor Girl | 1998 | Lyrics compare love to traffic collisions with several vehicles, one of them is the car. |
| " Cahuenga" | Scarling. | 2005 | From So Long, Scarecrow, about Jennifer Symes' car crash |
| "Car Crash" | The Avengers | 1977 | |
| "Car Crash" | Dirty Americans | 2004 | Making the comparison that love is like a car crash. "You leave me bloody and take all my money like a car crash". This song was featured on the soundtrack of the popular racing video game Gran Turismo 4. |
| "Car Crash" | Our Lady Peace | 1997 | About a friend who intentionally killed himself in a car crash. |
| "Car Crash" | Powerman 5000 | 1995 | |
| "The Carroll County Accident" | Porter Wagoner | 1968 | A deadly car crash reveals a secret extramarital affair in the form of a lost wedding ring |
| "Chapel Bells Ringing" | Gene Summers | 1962 | 45rpm issued on Lafayette Records. Based upon a true story about a fatal car/train crash in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas. |
| "Chemistry of a Car Crash" | Shiny Toy Guns | 2005 | |
| "Chicken" | The Cheers | 1957 | |
| "Come Back Jonee" | Devo | 1978 | The lyric "Jonee jumped in his Datsun, drove onto the expressway, went head on into a semi." |
| "Condition Red" | The Goodees | 1968 | Motorcycle crash under circumstances similar to "Leader of the Pack" |
| "The Country & Western Supersong" | Billy Connolly | 1979 | A bus crash, ambulance and car crash |
| "Crash" | The Primitives | 1988 | Allegory about living too fast: "You go way too fast, if you don't slow down, you're going to crash." |
| "Crawling from the Wreckage" | Graham Parker | ---- | Also a hit for Dave Edmunds. |
| "Crazy Cat Corner" | Gene Summers | 2004 | From Do Right Daddy CD |
| "Daddy's Speeding" | Suede | 1994 | A eulogy to James Dean and about the relevance of car crashes in modern culture |
| "The Day I Died" | Just Jack | 2009 | |
| "Days of Graduation" | Drive-By Truckers | 2001 | A first person narrative about a fatal car crash the night before the victims' high school graduation. |
| "Deacon Blues" | Steely Dan | 1977 | "Drink scotch whisky all night long and die behind the wheel" |
| "Dead on the Highway" | Sons of the Never Wrong | 1995 | First person narrative from the person killed in a car crash. |
| "Dead Man's Curve" | Jan and Dean | 1964 | Auto street racing collision |
| "Dead Joe" | The Birthday Party | 1982 | |
| "Dead in a Ditch" | Dirty Rotten Imbeciles | 1988 | Story of a girl who steals her parents' car and pills and drives of a cliff |
| "Detroit Rock City" | Kiss | 1976 | Written in tribute to a fan who was killed in a car crash on his way to a KISS concert. |
| "Dezesseis" | Legião Urbana | 1996 | Story of a teenager street racer who died on a car crash, possibly from suicide. |
| "A Day in the Life" | The Beatles | 1967 | John Lennon sings about a man who "blew his mind out in a car" crash, presumably Guinness heir Tara Browne, who died in a 1966 automobile crash. |
| "Don't Pass Me By" | The Beatles | 1968 | The song is addressed to someone who was "in a car crash" and "lost hair"; i.e., became anxious or upset. |
| "Don't Save Us from the Flames" | M83 | 2005 | About a survivor of a car crash hearing ghosts crying for Tina. |
| "Dreaming While You Sleep" | Genesis | 1991 | From We Can't Dance. Written in the first person about a hit and run driver who is haunted by the events that took place. |
| "Drinking and Driving" | Black Flag | 1985 | From In My Head. "Fill your car with your buddies. And wrap it around a tree." |
| "Ed" | Ice-T | 1991 | "One night he got drunk and started driving real fast / Ed's dead" |
| "En händig man" | Per Gessle | 2007 | "Hanna" in the song always crashed in the same car. |
| "The End of the Tour" | They Might Be Giants | 1994 | Car crash |
| "Everything You Know is Wrong" | "Weird Al" Yankovic | 1996 | Protagonist crashes into a truck and lies bleeding on the asphalt when his hibachi dealer in the back seat cups his hands over the protagonist's eyes. |
| "Fireball Rolled a Seven" | Dave Dudley | 1975 | Protagonist dies in a racing collision |
| "Flowers" | Chris Young | 2006 | The singer sings at the grave of his wife whom he killed in a drunk driving accident. |
| "For Nancy " | Pete Yorn | 2001 | Musicforthemorningafter |
| "Glass in the Trees" | Dead Poetic | 2004 | About a friend who died in a car crash. |
| "Glitter Years" | The Bangles | 1988 | "Denny" in the song crashes his father's car |
| "G. M. Vincent and I" | Comeback Kid | 2010 | Tells the story of the van crash vocalist Andrew Neufeld and long-time friends/labelmates Grave Maker suffered |
| Grace Kelly | Die Ärzte | 1983 | From their EP Zu schön, um wahr zu sein! |
| "Gravity's Union" | Coheed and Cambria | 2013 | "And I was wrong to let you go / I accept my mistake, but you will never know / This is my love into a ten-ton truck / Baby, please remember the better me" |
| "Headlights on Dark Roads" | Snow Patrol | 2006 | |
| "Hello, This is Joannie" | Paul Evans | 1977 | - |
| "Here Comes Bob" | Sparks | 1972 | Humorous tale of a wealthy eccentric who deliberately causes minor fender-benders as a way of meeting women |
| "Hospital Flowers" | Owl City | 2011 | Reflecting on a victim's life after a car crash |
| "How I Left the Ministry" | The Extra Lens | 2010 | |
| "I Came Here to Live" | Trace Adkins | 2006 | A man telling a story about his life shares how his car flipped doing 80 and his experience with god that changed his purpose of life. |
| "I Can Feel A Hot One" | Manchester Orchestra | 2009 | A man is reflecting back on the night that he lost his pregnant wife in a car crash. |
| "I Hope They Get to Me in Time" | Darius Rucker | 2008 | A man reflects on his life as he lays injured from a car crash, hoping the ambulance arrives in time to save him |
| "I Love It" | Icona Pop | 2012 | Protagonist crashes her car into a bridge in a fit of rage. |
| "I Want My Baby Back" | Perry Botkin, Jr. and Gil Garfield, performed by Jimmy Cross | 1965 | A parody of the car crash tragedy genre in which the driver of the crash reunites with his dead girlfriend – in her coffin |
| "In morte di S.F." | Francesco Guccini | 1967 | From the album Folk beat n. 1 – often covered; best known cover is by Italian seminal pop-rock group Nomadi |
| "In the Car Crash" | Swayzak | 2002 | From the album Dirty Dancing featuring Headgear |
| "It's Dangerous Business Walking out Your Front Door" | Underoath | 2004 | "Glass shatters and comes to a halt; I thought we'd be there by now. I thought it would be so much quicker than this. Pain has never been so brilliant; I made sure you were buckled in. Now you can walk hand in hand with him." From They're Only Chasing Safety |
| "J.A.R." | Green Day | 1995 | Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt wrote this song in memory of his lifelong friend, Jason Relva, who died in 1992 as the result of injuries sustained from a car crash. "My friend drove off the other day/Now he's gone and all they say/Is you've gotta live 'cause life goes on" |
| "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver" | Primus | 1995 | "Jerry was a race car driver/22 years old/Had one too many cold beers one night/And wrapped himself around a telephone pole" |
| "Jock-O-Rama " | Dead Kennedys | 1985 | Contains the line: Another Trans-Am wrapped itself around a telephone pole "I ain't drunk, officer, I just fell gettin' out of my car" |
| "In the Kingdom #19" | Sonic Youth | 1986 | Death on the highway |
| "I'm Cold" | Whale | 1995 | "I'm breathing a broken windscreen" |
| "Johnny Don't Do It" | 10cc | 1973 | A parody of the teenage "death disc" genre using the familiar trope of a bad boy who is good but misunderstood, "an angel dressed in black," riding a stolen motorcycle when he runs into a truck. |
| "Johnny's Gone" | Catfish | 1991 | 2 wheels on the highway / 4 wheels flashing blue / 10 wheels coming the other way / Gonna make the morning news |
| "Just a Car Crash Away" | Marilyn Manson | 2007 | Manson singing about a relationship and lives that are "Just a Car Crash Away" |
| "Just Good Ol' Boys | Moe Bandy and Joe Stampley | 1979 | "Hotwired a city truck and turned it over in the mayor's yard." |
| "Junkyard in the Sky" | London Lee | 1963 | - |
| "Kärleken är" | Jill Johnson | 1998 | Inspired by the aftermath of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in a car crash in France in 1997. |
| "Killer Cars" | Radiohead | 1995 | B-side from the album The Bends. |
| "Kiss Them for Me" | Siouxsie and the Banshees | 1991 | From the album Superstition. Inspired by the death of Jayne Mansfield in a car crash in 1967. |
| "Last Kiss" | Wayne Cochran and made popular by J. Frank Wilson also covered by Pearl Jam | 1964 | Falsely inspired by a December 1962 incident in Barnesville, Georgia, in which several teens were killed and two seriously injured when their car struck a flatbed logging truck. Song was actually written in 1961. |
| "Leader of the Pack" | The Shangri-Las | 1964 | Motorcycle crash. |
| "Leeds Road 3 am" | New Model Army | 2000 | From the album Eight, the song describes a series of scenes which culminate in a car crash. |
| "A Lifetime" | Better Than Ezra | 2001, 2005 | Featured on the albums Closer and Before the Robots. The urn of a car crash victim is stolen at her wake for a private farewell. |
| "Lightning Crashes" | Live | 1995 | Song based on a real-life drunk driving crash and the impact of a subsequent organ donation. |
| "Limousine" | Brand New | 2005 | Young flower girl at wedding is killed by drunk driver |
| "The Living End" | The Jesus and Mary Chain | 1985 | From the album "Psychocandy". |
| "Love Rhymes with Hideous Car Wreck" | The Blood Brothers | 2004 | A song about a boy who left his girlfriend for a "better looking brand" and when he is horribly hurt in an crash no one visits. |
| "Low Light" | Pearl Jam | 1998 | A song about a troubled couple losing each other in a car crash and not being able to reconcile. |
| "Lucky" | Radiohead | 1997 | "Pull me out of the aircrash". |
| "Life in the Fast Lane" | The Eagles | 1976 | A song about a troubled couple driving in the fast lane, and the male driver singing "call the doctor, I think I'm going to crash", they then "run a stop sign and take a turn for the worst". |
| "Mario Milano's Monaro" | Perry Keyes | 2015 | "Just the other night / Some old guy ran a red light /T-boned me, South Dowling St." |
| "MIA" | Emmy The Great | 2006 | About listening to singer MIA in a car when her love dies in a car crash. |
| "Message from James Dean" | Bill Hayes | 1956 | |
| "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" | Crash Test Dummies | 1993 | A car crash turned a kid's hair "from black into bright white" because "the cars had smashed so hard." |
| "Mr. Ambulance Driver" | The Flaming Lips | 2006 | From the album At War With the Mystics. Frontman Wayne Coyne has described the song as a "teenager car crash ballad". |
| "Motorcrash" | The Sugarcubes | 1988 | From the album Life's Too Good |
| "Motorist" | Jawbox | 1994 | |
| "My Favourite Game" | The Cardigans | 1998 | The reason MTV UK rejected the video was because of fears that the video could encourage joyriding and cause car crashes amongst teenage drivers. |
| "A Nightmare to Remember" | Dream Theater | 2009 | From the album Black Clouds & Silver Linings. Guitarist John Petrucci wrote about a car crash he was in as a child. |
| "No Reason" | Don Walker | 2006 | "the towies said he was airborne when he hit the tree / with a blood alcohol of 1.7 or more" |
| "No Return" | The Third Rail | 1966 | |
| "Normandy" | Project 86 | 2007 | |
| "Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer than They Are" | Meat Loaf | 1993 | Singer's friend is killed in a plane crash |
| "Oerend Hard" | Normaal | 1977 | Motorcycle crash |
| "On The Road To Calvary " | Willie Nile | 1999 | "I heard a car crash, it reminded me of you" from the album Beautiful Wreck of the World |
| "The Other Side of the Crash/Over and Out " | Thursday | 2006 | The aftermath of a car crash on its survivors is chronicled. A sequel to "Understanding in a Car Crash" |
| "Papa Loved Mama" | Garth Brooks | 1992 | A jealous truck driver crashes his rig into a motel room where his wife is having an extramarital affair, killing her and sending himself to prison. |
| "Phantom 309" | Red Sovine | 1964 | The song's protagonist, a hitchhiker, meets the ghost of a truck driver who was killed when he swerved his semi-trailer truck into a ditch to avert a potentially deadly collision with a bus full of teenagers. |
| "Plastic Flowers on the Highway" | Drive-By Truckers | 2001 | |
| "Racing Car" | :nl:Air Bubble|Air Bubble | 1976 | Ned. No. 7 Racing car driver boyfriend is involved in a crash. |
| "Renaissance" | Mat Kearney | 2006 | |
| "Ricky's Hand" | Fad Gadget | 1980 | A man drinks six pints of beer, drives, crashes his car, and loses his hand. |
| "Riding with Private Malone" | David Ball | 2001 | The singer is pulled from a fiery car crash by the ghost of the car's former owner, a soldier who died in the Vietnam War. |
| "The Right Profile" | The Clash | 1979 | Based on the 1956 car crash in which Hollywood star Montgomery Clift was severely injured. |
| "Rocky's Girl" | David Geddes | 1978 | |
| "Seventy Times 7" | Brand New | 2001 | Sample lyrics: "Have another drink and drive yourself home" "I hope there's ice on all the roads" "And you can think of me when you forget your seatbelt" "Then again when your head goes through the windshield" |
| "Shredded Humans" | Cannibal Corpse | 1990 | From the album Eaten Back to Life. The lyrics of the song describe what happens to a family inside a car that crashes, and the reaction of the other driver. |
| "Sirens" | Lee Brice | 2014 | From the album I Don't Dance. The subject picks up a female hitchhiker who robbed a bank and grabs the steering wheel and causes a crash rather than surrendering to the cops. |
| "Slick" | Sugar | 1992 | From the album Copper Blue. The song describes a driver who lost control of a car on a slick road and crashed into a pole. The subject is paralyzed and connected to machines in the hospital. |
| "Sloppy Seconds" | Watsky | 2013 | From the album Cardboard Castles; first verse details a car crash |
| "Slow Car Crash" | Headphones | 2005 | "Your purse hit the wind shield when I locked the brakes. Airbags inflated, seat belts engaged. A semi was jackknifed because of the rain. A hundred yards up blocking three lanes." |
| "So Damn Lucky" | Dave Matthews | 2003 | The 2nd track on Matthews's solo album Some Devil. The subject is pleased that their love is not involved in the auto collision described in the lyrics. |
| "So Small" | Carrie Underwood | 2007 | A runaway teen steps in front of an oncoming car, causing the woman driving to swerve into a man coming in the opposite direction – and then time freezes, giving all three a moment to contemplate what brought them there. |
| "Someday" | Nickelback | 2003 | From the album The Long Road. The lyrics chronicle a failed relationship. The music video involving a car crash. |
| "Spellbound" | AC/DC | 1981 | From the album For Those About to Rock We Salute You. The first verse describes a car crash and the second verse describes the reckless driving that lead to the crash. |
| "Stan" | Eminem featuring Dido | 2000 | The lead character in the song commits suicide by crashing his car, with his pregnant girlfriend in the trunk. |
| "Star Witness" | Neko Case | 2006 | "My true love drowned in a dirty old pan of oil that did run from the block of a Falcon sedan 1969. The paper said '75. There were no survivors, none found alive." |
| "State Fair" | Doug Supernaw | 1994 | "It happened way out on route twenty nine Some drunk driver came across the yellow line" |
| “Stereotype” | The Specials | 1980 | “His mums waiting up, she hopes he's alright But he's wrapped round a lamp post on Saturday night” |
| "Steve Was Dead" | Buck O Nine | 1997 | Rumors spread among friends that Steve was in a car crash. |
| "Sunday Driving" | Jerry Lewis | 1951 | Jerry crashes his car at the end of the song and says next time he'll take the bus, instead. |
| "Suzy & Jeffrey" | Blondie | 1980 | The titular duo crash into a wall, serving as a metaphor for cold feet. |
| "Teddy Bear" | Red Sovine | 1976 | The protagonist's father had died in a collision involving his semi-trailer truck during a snowstorm. |
| "Teen Angel" | Mark Dinning and Alex Murray | 1959 | Auto collision |
| "Teenage Cremation" | Bob Hudson | 1974 | A parody of teen death songs. "I walk along the nature strip looking for pieces of you" |
| "Tell Laura I Love Her" | Ray Peterson | 1960 | Auto racing collision |
| "Terry" | Twinkle | 1964 | Motorcycle crash |
| "That's How People Grow Up" | Morrissey | 2009 | "I was driving my car / I crashed and broke my spine" |
| "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" | The Smiths | 1986 | from the album The Queen Is Dead |
| "Three Wooden Crosses" | Randy Travis | 2002 | Christian story song about a bus wreck in Mexico where three people died and maybe why a fourth person, perhaps the least deserving of the group, lived. |
| "Through the Wire" | Kanye West | 2003 | Rapper West's first single, inspired by a 2002 crash which he survived, and performed while his jaw was wired shut as a result of his injuries. |
| "The Tourist" | Radiohead | 1997 | A song about the moments leading up to and during the crash "Airbag" is based on. |
| "Thunderbird" | Steve Azar | 1996 | from the album Heartbreak Town |
| "A Tombstone Every Mile" | Dick Curless | 1965 | A song about a treacherous stretch of Maine highway where truckers often met fatal accidents. |
| "Tonight is the Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel" | Barenaked Ladies | 2000 | From Maroon. Accompanied by a drum march and calliope, the song is recited by the narrator who has just died in a car crash. |
| "" | Jethro Tull | 1976 | Motorcycle crash |
| "Transfusion" | Nervous Norvus | 1956 | A crazy driver keeps getting into collisions and receiving blood transfusions – always promising to never speed again. |
| "Trashed" | Black Sabbath | 1983 | From Born Again, about surviving a drunk driving. |
| "Two Hour Honeymoon" | Paul Hampton | 1960 | A newlywed couple have a car crash that kills her and leaves him lying in the wreck questioning why it happened. |
| "Two Six Packs Away" | Dave Dudley | 1965 | The singer is serving a ninety-day jail sentence for wrecking his car while drunk. |
| "Understanding in a Car Crash" | Thursday | 2002 | |
| "Untitled " | Simple Plan | 2005 | Drunk driving collision |
| "Warm Leatherette" | The Normal | 1979 | Also recorded by Grace Jones. First person narrative of a car crash victim burning to death in the crash. |
| "Where Oh Werewolf" | Michael J. Nelson | 1998 | Parodying a car crash scene in the 1996 film Werewolf. Performed on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. |
| "When I Go Out, I Want to Go Out on a Chariot of Fire" | Escape the Fate | 2006 | Song about a deadly car crash. |
| "The Wild Boar" | Adrian Crowley | 2014 | "Suddenly, a huge shape leapt from the forest on his right / There was barely enough time to react / He hit the brakes hard, but the car collided / with the creature, or whatever it was" |
| "Wreck on the Highway" | Roy Acuff | 1942 | Also recorded by artists including The Louvin Brothers, , The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band |
| "Wreck on the Highway" | Bruce Springsteen | 1980 | Hit-and-run victim on lonely highway, inspired by but different from the Acuff song |
| "The Year Summer Ended in June" | Misery Signals | 2004 | "Roll down the window let in night air. I always thought we'd be together. You said we've never gone this way before. I must not let you die. Your memory survives.” From Of Malice and the Magnum Heart |
| "Crash & Burn" | Got7 | 2019 | From their album Call My Name. |
| "A Young Man Is Gone" | The Beach Boys | 1963 | A eulogy to James Dean |