4 Classic Songs That Make You Want To Move Out to the Country

The glitz and glamour of city life often outshines living in the country, but rural dwellers know that there’s a peaceful elegance in the open fields, lush treelines, and the slow, quiet lifestyle of living in the boonies. Out there with the natural world, country living seems paradisiacal compared to the metallic hustle and bustle of the city.

These four classic songs capture this rustic spirit so well; it’s enough for even the most devoted urbanite to ponder what life would be like if they were to move out to the country. For those of you reading in towns with populations that are four digits and under, these songs are reminders that life in the sticks can be real sweet.

“Heart Of The Country” by Paul and Linda McCartney

Paul and Linda McCartney practiced what they preached when they wrote “Heart Of The Country” while living in rural Scotland. The simple, straightforward tune (save for McCartney’s jazz scatting, perhaps) celebrates “living in a home in the heart of the country,” which is also where “all the holy people go.” Life is slow, purposeful, and tender in the country, which can sound like heaven on earth to people who feel trapped in the confines of a skyscraper-packed metro area.

“Going Up The Country” by Canned Heat

Canned Heat lays out their plans in no uncertain terms in their 1968 hit single “Going Up The Country”. They’re going to “leave this city” and leave behind “all this fussing and fighting,” opting instead for a life “where the water tastes like wine.” Coming off the heels of the Summer of Love, the Canned Heat classic embodied the wandering spirit that permeated the counterculture movement of the late 1960s. “I’m going up the country, baby, don’t you wanna go?”

“Out In The Country” by Three Dog Night

One of the best parts about living in the country is the solitude, something that is hard to find in a cramped cityscape. Three Dog Night’s 1970 track “Out In the Country” reflects on this welcome isolation. “Whenever I need to leave it all behind / or feel the need to get away / I find a quiet place, far from the human race out in the country.” In the four walls of a tiny downtown apartment with thin walls, such a place sounds downright heavenly.

“Cowboy Take Me Away” by The Chicks

Although more recent than the previous entries, we’d say The Chicks (formerly The Dixie Chicks) have more than earned their spot among “classic” mainstream acts. The second single from their second album, “Cowboy Take Me Away”, helped garner them this distinction. The song conjures images of running away with a weather-worn cowboy, sleeping on a “pillow of blue bonnets in a blanket made of stars.”

“I wanna walk and not run / I wanna skip and not fall / I wanna look at the horizon and not see a building standing tall / I wanna be the only one for miles and miles.” Now, where might a body find all that? Y’all don’t need us to tell you: out in the country, of course.

Photo by Watal Asanuma/Shinko Music via Getty Images