"Ventura Highway" (America)

Okay, here's how to approach an America song: first and foremost, just accept that the lyrics have no deeper meaning; the words are only there as rhythmic pegs for the band to hang its three-part vocal harmonies upon.  Secondly, focus on the virtuosity of the players and the intricacy of the interplay between the acoustic guitars.  Finally, forget about the lyrics.  Seriously.  Forget about 'em.

"Ventura Highway" is a perfect specimen of why the band was as successful as it was in the 70s.  The twin guitar harmonies that open the song and cycle throughout evoke such a feeling of Southern California sunshine and open spaces that it's impossible not to drift away in your mind to a sunbaked stretch of blacktop cutting through the desert.

As much as the song evokes that geographic location, the band members weren't really from there.  They were Air Force brats who moved frequently from base to base, all around the US and Europe.  The three founding members—Dewey Bunnell (writer/lead singer of "Ventura Highway"), Gerry Beckley, and Dan Peek—met at an American expatriate high school while their families were stationed in England.  In a reflection of nostalgia for the US and to signal that they weren't a British band trying to sound American, they named their band "America."

Speaking of nostalgia, "Ventura Highway" from the 1972 album Homecoming was inspired by Bunnell's childhood memory of his family relocating from one military base to another and getting a flat tire in the middle of the California desert.  He and his brother sat on the side of the road, staring up at the sky, playing the game of spotting shapes in the clouds, hence the abstract line: Alligator lizards in the air.  Apparently, there also was a road sign pointing toward "Ventura" on the side of the road, and that image stuck with him.  

So there ya go. 
"Ventura Highway": lyrical marshmallow fluff atop an indelible instrumental track, which features the key rhythmic contributions of session musicians Hal Blaine (drums) and Joe Osborn (bass)—members of the collective known as "The Wrecking Crew" who played on countless rock and pop songs of the 60s and 70s.