Songfacts®:

• This was the first hit record written and produced by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, who helped create the Philadelphia Soul sound with songs like "If You Don't Know Me By Now" and "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)," which were released on their Philadelphia International label. Gamble and Huff are from Camden, New Jersey, which is just east of Philadelphia, and often took the Schuylkill Expressway, which is the "Expressway To Your Heart." Gamble wrote the lyrics, and he explained to National Public Radio: "I was on my way over to see a young lady, and the expressway was backed up. This is when they just started the expressway in 1967 - I was sitting there for what seemed like hours, so I started beating on the dashboard and singing, 'Expressway to your heart, trying to get to you.' Songs come from your imagination. You have to be quick to capture the moment."
• This song starts with the sound of car horns, which came from records containing sound effects. The horns were inspired by the Lovin' Spoonful song "Summer In The City," which also used the effect.
• Gamble and Huff reused the lyrics "Shower you with love and affection, now you won't look in my direction" on the song I'm Gonna Make You Love Me, which contains the line, "I'm gonna shower you with love and affection, look out, it's comin' in your direction."
• The Soul Survivors were a white group from New York City. They had one more Top 40 hit: "Explosion (In My Soul)."
• The New Jersey band Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes performed this in the 1987 movie Adventures In Babysitting in the scene where Elisabeth Shue and her charges show up at a fraternity party.
• A live version by the Blues Brothers is featured on their 1981 album, The Best Of The Blues Brothers.