"Life Is a Highway" is a song by Canadian musician Tom Cochrane from his second studio album, Mad Mad World (1991). Released in September 1991, by Capitol Records, the single became a number-one hit in Canada in late 1991. "Life Is a Highway" also peaked at number six on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100 in August 1992 and reached the top two in Australia and New Zealand the same year. The accompanying music video was directed by David Storey. The song was covered by Chris LeDoux for his 1998 album One Road Man and Rascal Flatts in 2006 for the Cars soundtrack.

In 2016 a section of Manitoba Provincial Road 391 was designated "Tom Cochrane's Life Is a Highway" in honour of the singer, born near that highway, and the song.

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 demonstration (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. "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.

  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

{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

!scope="col"|Chart (1991–1992)

!scope="col"|Peak<br />position

|-

|-

!scope="row"|Canada Retail Singles (The Record)

| 1

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

!scope="row"|UK Airplay (Music Week)

| 45

|-

!scope="row"|US Billboard Hot 100

| 6

|-

!scope="row"|US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)

| 45

|-

!scope="row"|US Album Rock Tracks (Billboard)

| 6

|-

!scope="row"|US Top 40/Mainstream (Billboard)

| 16

|-

!scope="row"|US Cash Box Top 100

| 6

|}

Year-end charts

{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

!scope="col"|Chart (1991)

!scope="col"|Position

|-

!scope="row"|Canada Top Singles (RPM)

| 5

|}

{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

!scope="col"|Chart (1992)

!scope="col"|Position

|-

!scope="row"|Australia (ARIA)

| 27

|-

!scope="row"|New Zealand (RIANZ)

| 9

|-

!scope="row"|US Billboard Hot 100

| 18

|-

!scope="row"|US Album Rock Tracks (Billboard)

| 11

|-

!scope="row"|US Cash Box Top 100

| 15

|}

Decade-end charts

{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

!Chart (1990–1990)

!Position

|-

!scope="row"|Canada (Nielsen SoundScan)

| 33

|}

Certifications