"Goddess on a Hiway" is the first single from Mercury Rev

Mercury Rev

Mercury Rev is an American alternative rock group, that formed in the late 1980s in Buffalo, New York. Original personnel were David Baker , Jonathan Donahue , Sean Mackowiak, a.k.a...

's fourth studio album, Deserter's Songs

Deserter's Songs

Deserter's Songs is the fourth studio album by the Buffalo, New York-based rock band Mercury Rev, released in late September 1998. British music magazine NME named Deserter's Songs album of the year for 1998...

. The single was first released on November 2, 1998, and then re-issued on August 16, 1999. Two music videos were produced for the song, one directed by Anton Corbijn

Anton Corbijn

Anton Corbijn is a Dutch photographer, music video and film director. He is the creative director behind the visual output of Depeche Mode and U2, having handled the principal promotion and sleeve photography for both for more than a decade...

, the other directed by James & Alex (featured on the 1999 eCD single). B-sides include a cover of "I Only Have Eyes for You

I Only Have Eyes for You

"I Only Have Eyes for You" is a popular song by composer Harry Warren and lyricist Al Dubin, written in 1934 for the film Dames where it was introduced by Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler....

" featuring musician Sean O'Hagan

Sean O'Hagan

Sean O'Hagan is a founding member of Irish indie band Microdisney. In the 1990s he formed The High Llamas and released a number of highly acclaimed albums showing influences as diverse as The Beach Boys, Ennio Morricone, Antonio Carlos Jobim and avant-garde electronica...

.

The song's lyrics takes advantage of homonymy: the first verse contains the lines "I got us on a highway, I got us in a car..." This changes to "She's a goddess on a highway, a goddess in a car..."

In October 2011, NME

NME

The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

 placed it at number 122 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".

UK

1998 CD:

1. "Goddess on a Hiway" - 3:45
2. "Ragtag" - 2:42
3. "I Only Have Eyes for You" (featuring Sean O'Hagan
   Sean O'Hagan
   Sean O'Hagan is a founding member of Irish indie band Microdisney. In the 1990s he formed The High Llamas and released a number of highly acclaimed albums showing influences as diverse as The Beach Boys, Ennio Morricone, Antonio Carlos Jobim and avant-garde electronica...
   
   ) - 4:22

1998 7" vinyl:

1. "Goddess on a Hiway" - 3:45
2. "Ragtag" - 2:42

UK Re-issue

1999 CD #1:

1. "Goddess on a Hiway" - 3:45
2. "I Don't Want to Be a Soldier" (Live Peel
   John Peel
   John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
   
    Session, May 5, 1999) - 3:30
3. "Car Wash Hair" (Live BBC Radio
   BBC Radio
   BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
   
    Session) - 7:55

1999 CD #2:

1. "Goddess on a Hiway" - 3:45
2. "I Dreamt" (read by Robert Creeley
   Robert Creeley
   Robert Creeley was an American poet and author of more than sixty books. He is usually associated with the Black Mountain poets, though his verse aesthetic diverged from that school's. He was close with Charles Olson, Robert Duncan, Allen Ginsberg, John Wieners and Ed Dorn. He served as the Samuel P...
   
   ) - 1:30
3. "Very Sleepy Rivers" - 12:31
4. "Goddess on a Hiway" (enhanced video)

US

"Goddess on a Hiway +5" promo EP CD:

1. "Goddess on a Hiway" - 3:45
2. "Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp" (The Chemical Brothers
   The Chemical Brothers
   The Chemical Brothers are a British electronic music duo comprising Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons. Originating in Manchester in 1991, along with The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, The Crystal Method, and fellow acts, they were pioneers at bringing the big beat genre to the forefront of pop culture.- Background...
   
    Remix) - 6:22
3. "Ragtag" - 2:42
4. "I Only Have Eyes for You" (featuring Sean O'Hagan
   Sean O'Hagan
   Sean O'Hagan is a founding member of Irish indie band Microdisney. In the 1990s he formed The High Llamas and released a number of highly acclaimed albums showing influences as diverse as The Beach Boys, Ennio Morricone, Antonio Carlos Jobim and avant-garde electronica...
   
   ) - 4:22
5. "Vampire Blues" (Live) - 2:50
6. "Isolation" (Live) - 4:10

Japan

EP CD:

1. "Goddess on a Hiway" - 3:45
2. "Car Wash Hair" (Live BBC Radio
   BBC Radio
   BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
   
    Session) - 7:55
3. "Caroline Says Pt. II" - 3:33
4. "Vampire Blues" (Live) - 2:50
5. "Holes" / "I Collect Coins" [unlisted] (Live) - 7:04
6. "Isolation" (Live) - 4:10
7. "Very Sleepy Rivers" - 12:31
8. "I Only Have Eyes for You" (featuring Sean O'Hagan
   Sean O'Hagan
   Sean O'Hagan is a founding member of Irish indie band Microdisney. In the 1990s he formed The High Llamas and released a number of highly acclaimed albums showing influences as diverse as The Beach Boys, Ennio Morricone, Antonio Carlos Jobim and avant-garde electronica...
   
   ) - 4:22
9. "Goddess on a Hiway" (enhanced video)