"Life Is a Highway" is a song written by Tom Cochrane, from his 1991 album Mad Mad World. The song was Cochrane's most famous song, as it was a number one hit in his native Canada, and was ubiquitous on Canadian radio in 1991. The song also peaked at number six on the Billboard charts in the United States in 1992.
In the 1990s Cochrane took his family to West Africa where he helped to raise awareness and money for the World Vision famine relief organization. That experience shaped his next album Mad Mad World which contained "Life Is a Highway".
The song was Cochrane's only Top 40 hit in the United States, although he continued to have significant hits in Canada. Prominent Cincinnati disc jockey Brian Douglas was the first American DJ to play this song on air.
In 1998, Chris LeDoux released a cover of "Life Is a Highway" on the album One Road Man. Changes include the timing of vocal entrances on the chorus, and location names between the first and second chorus. This version also appears on LeDoux's 20 Greatest Hits, released June, 1999.
The song was featured in the movie Cheaper by the Dozen (2003).
The song was brought back into prominence when it was the first song performed at Live 8 Barrie July 2, 2005. In the same year, it was named the 13 th greatest Canadian song of all time in the CBC Radio One series 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version.
The song was featured in a 2007 Volvo commercial. It was also covered by Blake Shelton and his choir on a live edition of NBC's Clash of the Choirs.
