"Holiday Road" is a 1983 single written, composed, and recorded by American guitarist/singer Lindsey Buckingham. The song was written for the 1983 film National Lampoon's Vacation. "Holiday Road" was also used in the sequels National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985), Vegas Vacation (1997) and Vacation (2015). While the song only peaked at No. 82 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during its original release, it has since become one of Buckingham's best known songs.[1]

"Holiday Road"
European picture sleeve
Single by Lindsey Buckingham
from the album National Lampoon's Vacation Original Motion Picture Sound Track
B-side	"The Trip (Theme from Vacation)"
Released	June 24, 1983
Recorded	1982
Genre	Rock
Length	2:11
Label	Warner Bros.
Songwriter(s)	Lindsey Buckingham
Producer(s)	Lindsey Buckingham, Richard Dashut
Lindsey Buckingham singles chronology
"It Was I" (1981) "Holiday Road" (1983) "Go Insane" (1984)
Audio sample
"Holiday Road" file help

Buckingham released a live version of the song on his 2008 album Live at the Bass Performance Hall.

In July 2015, a remastered edition of "Holiday Road" was re-released, both on the Vacation soundtrack album and as a digital download along with "Dancin' Across the USA" from the original National Lampoon's Vacation soundtrack.

Cover versions and usage

The song has been covered by pop punk bands Limp, the Aquabats, Whippersnapper, Matt Pond PA, and Dirt Bike Annie. The indie rock band the Walkmen performed a version of the song in November 2010 for The A.V. Club's Holiday Undercover series.[2] In 2015, country group the Zac Brown Band covered the song for the soundtrack to the sequel Vacation.

In 2013, "Holiday Road" was adopted as the unofficial playoff victory song of the 2013 Chicago Blackhawks,[3] who went on to win the Stanley Cup on June 24, the 30th anniversary of the song's release. The hidden irony here was Clark Griswold was from Chicago, often wore a Chicago hat (albeit a Bears one) on his travels, and owned a Blackhawks jersey with "Griswold" across the back.

In 2014, the song was used as the music on television advertising for Teletext Holidays, a British travel agency.[4] The song appears under the closing credits of National Lampoon: Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead, a 2015 American documentary film directed by Douglas Tirola about the magazine and its related franchises and influence. A version of the song with rewritten lyrics was used in Honda television commercials in 2017.[5]

A parody of the song, "History Road", is used as a segment intro on the comedy podcast Dynamic Banter, hosted by Mike Falzone and Steve Zaragoza. The parody was made by and features the voice of their friend Owen Carter.[6]

Personnel

• Lindsey Buckingham – guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, percussion, drum programming, vocals

Charts

References

External links

• Holiday Road Lyrics