Bobby Troup wrote “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66,” later popularized by Nat King Cole.
Troup wrote the song in 1946 after traveling west by car with his first wife, Cynthia. The lyrics turn a cross-country journey into a list of places associated with the highway, including St. Louis, Oklahoma City, Amarillo, Gallup, Flagstaff, Winona, Kingman, Barstow, and San Bernardino.
Nat King Cole recorded the song in 1946, and his version helped make it a standard. Numerous later performers recorded it, including Chuck Berry, the Rolling Stones, Depeche Mode, and John Mayer. Those later recordings sometimes cause listeners to misidentify the composer.
The song’s title is commonly printed with parentheses around “Get Your Kicks on.” It is a musical reference to the road’s popular image, not an official slogan created by the highway department.