"Drivin' My Life Away" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist

Eddie Rabbitt Edward Thomas Rabbitt (November 27, 1941 – May 7, 1998) was an American country music singer and songwriter. His career began as a songwriter in the late 1960s, springboarding to a recording career after composing hits such as " Kentucky Rai ...

. It was released in June 1980 as the first single from the album ''

Horizon The horizon is the apparent line that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This line divides all viewing directions based on whether i ...

''. The song was written by Rabbitt, Even Stevens and David Malloy.

Background

The song is a look into the life of a truck driver and the long periods of time they spend away from home.

Commercial performance

Although many of Rabbitt's successful songs were

country-pop Country pop (also known as pop country or urban cowboy) is a fusion genre of country music and pop music that was developed by members of the country genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country pop music blends genres ...

material, "Drivin' My Life Away" began his peak popularity as a crossover artist. The song peaked at No. 5 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and set the stage for his biggest career hit: "

I Love a Rainy Night "I Love a Rainy Night" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Eddie Rabbitt. It was released in November 1980 as the second single from his album ''Horizon''. It reached number one on the Hot Country Singles, ''Billbo ...

," which reached the top on the country,

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming i ...

and adult contemporary charts in early 1981. Two more crossover hits - "Step by Step" and "You and I" (the latter a duet with

Crystal Gayle Crystal Gayle (born Brenda Gail Webb; January 9, 1951) is an American country music singer widely known for her 1977 hit "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". Initially, Gayle's management and record label were the same as that of her oldest sis ...

) - followed in 1981 and 1982. On ''Billboard's'' Hot Country Singles chart, it was his seventh out of 17 career chart toppers, spanning from 1976 through 1990. In 1981, "Drivin' My Life Away" was certified gold for sales of half a million units by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

. It has also sold a further 267,000 digital copies in the US since it became available for download.

Uses in media

*It was featured on the soundtrack of the 1980 movie ''

Roadie The road crew (or roadies) are the technicians or support personnel who travel with a band on tour, usually in sleeper buses, and handle every part of the concert productions except actually performing the music with the musicians. This cat ...

'' starring

Meat Loaf Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally as Meat Loaf, was an American rock singer and actor. He was noted for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. He is on t ...

and Art Carney. *The song was covered in

Kidsongs ''Kidsongs'' is an American children's media franchise that includes Kidsongs Music Video Stories on DVD and video, The Kidsongs TV Show, CDs of favorite children's songs, song books, sheet music, toys and an ecommerce website. It was created by ...

' 1987 video: What I Want to Be. *The song was covered in the 1987 Episode "Cup A' Joe" from The A-Team (season 3). *The song was featured in the 2016 film '' Everybody Wants Some!!'' at a scene which takes place at a Texas country bar. *The song is featured in a

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TV commercial A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

for the

Volkswagen Golf The Volkswagen Golf () is a compact car/small family car (C-segment) produced by the German automotive manufacturer Volkswagen since 1974, marketed worldwide across eight generations, in various body configurations and under various nameplates ...

. *In Eddie Rabbitt's 1990 country hit "Running with the Wind" he mentions the 1980 crossover hit "Drivin' My Life Away" with the following lyric: I listen to the windshield wipers go/Just like the song I used to know/I'm drivin' my life away, hey/Drivin' my life away. *The song is featured in the

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

program ''The Americans'', season 6, episode 4, during a line dancing scene. *The song is featured at the beginning and at the end of the 2018 film ''Finding Steve McQueen''.

Charts

"Drivin' My Life Away" was released in 1980 as the first single from his album ''

''. It reached number one on the

Hot Country Singles Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

in 1980, and peaked at No. 5 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Rhett Akins cover

In 1998, country music artist

Rhett Akins Thomas Rhett Akins Sr. (born October 13, 1969) is an American singer and songwriter. Signed to Decca Records between 1994 and 1997, he released two albums for that label (1995's '' A Thousand Memories'' and 1996's '' Somebody New''), followed by ...

recorded a cover version of this song for the soundtrack to the 1998 film '' Black Dog''. This cover, released with

Lee Ann Womack Lee Ann Womack Liddell (; born August 19, 1966) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Her 2000 single, "I Hope You Dance" was a major crossover music hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Country Chart and the Top 1 ...

's "A Man with 18 Wheels" on the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

, peaked at number 56 on the country music charts. Akins told ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' that he was "apprehensive" about recording the song because of the familiarity of Rabbitt's original version. He also said that he wanted to record the song "the way I want to do it", but also that he wanted it to fit with the tone of the movie. As he did not know what the movie was going to be about, he consulted its director,

Kevin Hooks Kevin Hooks (born September 19, 1958) is an American actor, and a television and film director; he is notable for his roles in ''Aaron Loves Angela'' and '' Sounder'', but may be best known as Morris Thorpe from TV's '' The White Shadow''. Ear ...

, who flew to Nashville and told him the movie's plot and tone. Akins felt that the movie "was going to be high energy", so he made his rendition "a pretty rockin' track, real edgy".

Critical reception

Deborah Evans Price of ''

'' panned Akins' cover, saying that "Akins delivery doesn't have the zip and punch of Rabbitt's energetic version, and the production sounds like a watered-down version of the original."

Charts

References

Works cited *Bronson, Fred, ''The Billboard Book of Number One Hits'' 5th ed. Billboard Publications, New York, 2003. . *Roland, Tom, ''The Billboard Book of Number One Country Hits'', Billboard Books, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1991 () *Whitburn, Joel, "Top Pop Singles: 1955-2006," 2007. {{authority control 1980 songs 1980 singles 1998 singles Eddie Rabbitt songs Rhett Akins songs Songs written by Eddie Rabbitt Songs written by David Malloy Song recordings produced by David Malloy Elektra Records singles Decca Records singles Songs written by Even Stevens (songwriter) Song recordings produced by Frank Liddell Song recordings produced by Greg Droman Songs about truck driving