In 1991 Mad Mad World was released, a Canadian smash hit album for rock star Tom Cochrane. It debuted in the United States a year later in 1992.
The first single, Life is a Highway, has been ingrained in many people’s memories and continues to be enjoyed to this day.
Tom Cochrane, of course, has been in the game quite a while. He was with Red Rider back in the late ’70s into the ’80s, and then he went solo. He had many hits, mostly here in Canada.
Life is a Highway is the first track on the album, and it crossed over into the United States and became a hit there. It went to number six on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and number one here in Canada.
Now originally, the song was supposed to be called Love is a Highway. He’d written part of the song and recorded a demo back in his Red Rider days, but he didn’t like the song and kind of shelved it for a little while—until 1991, when he put it out as a huge single on his Mad Mad World album.
For the 25th anniversary of this song, though, he did release a demo version of the original title, Love is a Highway. Here’s a little clip of that. Very different, very ’80s. I like the demo version, but it can’t replace the 1991 version that we know and love.
Have a listen to the demo! It’s haunting!
Rascal Flats would go on to re record it for the movie Cars. Nothing tops the original for me though!
You know it, you love it. Here it is: Life is a Highway
