Nat King Cole first recorded “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66” in 1946 with the King Cole Trio.
The recording was made at Radio Recorders in Los Angeles on March 16, 1946. Capitol Records released it as a single later that year, helping transform Bobby Troup’s road song into a widely known American standard.
Cole’s version reached number three on Billboard’s Race Records chart and number eleven on the broader singles chart. The performance featured Cole with guitarist Oscar Moore and bassist Wesley Prince as the King Cole Trio.
The song is often associated with later rock performances, especially versions by Chuck Berry and the Rolling Stones. Those recordings came later, so they should not be confused with Cole’s original 1946 release. Cole also rerecorded the song for albums in 1956 and 1961.