There’s a thing that happens every so often while driving to pick up a friend: The perfect song comes on the stereo either while shuffling through streaming services, or revisiting an old mixtape. You keep listening to that one song over and over, trying to work out the timing so that it peaks at the exact second your friend enters the car.

Or what about those moments when the night is drawing to a close, your destination is in sight, but the vibes are just too good to abandon so soon?

These are the songs that will instantly turn you into an editing genius, soundtracking your life as though it were the ultimate road trip movie. Or at the very least they’ll inspire you to take the scenic route home, and circle the block at least once when you get there.

As selected by KCRW’s Francesca Harding, the songs that comprise “The Long Way Home” are arranged with precisely these feelings in mind. Click into the player to your left to be transported, and prepare to fall in love with these timeless tracks all over again or for the first time — especially when Harding breaks down hearing Res’ 2001 semi-hit (if you know, you know) “They-Say Vision” for the first time while living in Baltimore. It stopped her in her tracks, and inspired extra laps around the block so she could experience it in its entirety. That song, and every other song she’s mixed into “The Long Way Home” are primed to have the same effect in this moment.

TRACK LIST