Ventura Highway – America | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#8); 1972
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
In 1969, Americans Gerry Beckley and Dan Peek, and Englishman Dewey Bunnell, combined their guitars and voices into a Crosby, Stills & Nash-like trio. They originally called themselves Daze, then changed to America, reportedly taking the name from an Americana jukebox they spied in a London pub.
Hitting the club circuit in England did wonders for America’s reputation, and an in-person audition for the president of Warner’s London office brought the group a record deal.
The resulting debut album hit #1 as did the single, A Horse With No Name, written by member Dewey Bunnell. After the Beckley penned I Need You reached #9, Bunnell mined his memories of a drive with his folks in Southern California as inspiration for Ventura Highway.
Ventura Highway‘s lilting guitar riff and sun-drenched lyrics not only warmed up the winter of 1972/73, that same lick also graced the summer of 2001 courtesy of a prominent sample used in Janet Jackson’s Someone To Call My Lover.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- America
Lyrics Written by:
- Dewey Bunnell
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).