This seize-the-day anthem was an international hit for the Canadian-native Tom Cochrane. Most outside of Canada don't know his name, but he is a celebrated artist in his home country. His honors include seven Juno Awards, membership in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, being an Honorary Colonel in the Canadian Air Force, and having been inducted onto the Canadian Walk of Fame. They take their rock stars seriously in Canada.
Cochrane was also the frontman and chief songwriter for the group Red Rider for 10 years, and hit a few times with that group as well. Their best-known song in America is "Lunatic Fringe."
This song was inspired by Cochrane's trip to West Africa, where he was gaining exposure for the World Vision famine relief organization. He recalled to Jam! Music: "When I wrote that song after my first trip to Africa, which was just mind bending and soul sapping, I was mentally, physically and spiritually exhausted and I really needed something to pull me out of this funk. I had this sketch that I had written and I ended up going into the studio and recorded it in an hour at seven in the morning.The irony is that it was the most positive song I'd ever written, coming out of a pretty heavy experience. I needed a pep talk, and it became that for me and for millions of others."
Cochrane devotes a great deal of his time to activism and causes, blending them together with his music, similar to artists such as Neil Young.
Since 1992, this song has had a near-continuous popularity thanks to heavy use in commercials. These include one for the Cleveland, Ohio-based bank National City Corp., and one for the NBC TV series VIPER. It's often used in car commercials in soundalike versions.
Rascal Flatts recorded a more kid-friendly version for the 2006 Disney movie Cars. It was a good choice: Kids watching the movie were hearing the song for the first time, but their parents knew it well. The never version was a hit, going to #7 in the US and helping the soundtrack sell over a million copies. Rascal Flatts was signed to Lyric Street Records, owned by Disney.
The Rascal Flatts cover came about because the band was friends with Pixar head John Lasseter. In a Songfacts interview with the band's lead singer, Gary LeVox, he described the exchange:
"He told us about this movie Cars that he was doing. We were, like, 'Well, that sounds weird. So, the cars are gonna talk?'
And he was, like, 'Yeah.'
'Toy Story worked, so you know what you're doing, John.'
So he came to a show, and afterward he told us about it and showed us some drawings and stuff. We were, like, 'Man, that's awesome!'You know, there's certain songs you just wanna leave alone. You're, like, 'How can you re-do that?' There are staples of music history, and 'Life Is A Highway' is one of them with Tom Cochrane. But he was like, 'I want you guys to do 'Life Is A Highway.'' And we were, like, 'Wow! Really?'"
"Life Is A Highway" ended up being one of Rascal Flatts' most popular live songs. It was also the first of their songs produced by Dann Huff, who worked on their albums Me and My Gang (2006), Still Feels Good (2007), and Unstoppable (2009). All three albums went to #1 in America.
The music video was shot in Alberta, Canada and directed by David Storey. In the clip, Cochrane performs the song while a couple ride the open road in a convertible. The guy in the video is Brennan Elliott, who has shown up in episodes of House, CSI, and Cold Case.
"Life Is A Highway" was used in the movies There Goes the Neighborhood (1992) and Cheaper by the Dozen (2003).
This earned Cochrane Juno Awards for Single Of The Year and Songwriter Of The Year.
Tom Cochrane is so beloved in Canada that in 2016 a section of highway in Manitoba was re-named "Tom Cochrane's Life Is a Highway." This section starts in his hometown of Lynn Lake and ends in Thompson.
The song shows up all over the 2018 Family Guy episode "The Woof Of Wall Street," including at the end when Stewie tells Brian, "Money doesn't buy happiness, this does," and they get transported into the "Life Is A Highway" video with Cochrane.
In The Office episode "Employee Transfer" from season 5, Michael, Holly, and Darryl sing this on the way to Nashua.
