|
|
||
| Infrastructure | |
||
| FHWA > Infrastructure > Library > Highway History > Some Road Songs Lyrics #8 | |||
| |||
She used to sit in the passenger seat
Tappin' on the dash with her bare feet
Poppin' that gum and paintin' her toenails blue.
She'd turn on the radio and crank it up,
That girl could never get it loud enough...
Now I've got nothin but taillights
Nothin' but goodbye.
Rollin' down a backwoods Tennessee byway
One arm on the wheel,
Holdin' my lover with the other:
A sweet soft southern thrill.
Worked hard all week,
Got a little jingle on a Tennessee Saturday night.
Couldn't feel better.
I'm together with my dixieland delight.
We rented a truck and a semi to go
Travel down the long and winding road.
Look on the map, I think we've been here before.
Close the doors let's roll once more -
Let it roll on down the highway.
I left Lake Charleston on 72 and I drove the Highway 10
Took a ride at a second light and I turn back right again.
Drove till I came to the junction 6 went to the transit 5-0-1.
Stopped for gas at the Cumberland pass and dined in Burlington.
Now out of Burlington I took old 70 headed west
I found me a picnic table and stretched out and I took a rest.
Countin' the hours countin' the days
Till I'll be back in your arms to stay.
Truck driver, truck driver, stop your Diamond T.
Do you have room inside your rig for a highway bum like me?
Hey thank you very much.
Don't suppose you could sorta scoot over a little bit
And give me a little more room cause I got long legs
And it's a long way to where I'm goin'.
The year is two thousand and eighty
And hardly a highway remains.
Gone are the days of the diesel
And songs about wrecks in the rain -
And in a deserted truck stop sits Tennessee Thompson
The world's last truck drivin' man.
Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes.
Well I've been searching uphill down and around and round
Life's lonely highway
Just traveling round, nothing to be found.
Now I know, yes I know that leaving you was wrong
So I'm coming on home, won't be long.
By the county line, the cops were nippin' on our heels
Pulled off the road and kicked it in four-wheel
Shut off the light and tore through the cornfield
What was I thinkin'?
Our the other side she was hollerin' faster
Took a dirt road and had the radio blastin'
Hit the honky ton for a little close dancin'
What was I thinkin'?
Show me the road
Show me the sign
Show me the way to the county line.
My bags are packed
Lord, I'm highway bound.
Windows open on the rest of the world
Holding hands all the way to Dixie land.
We've been trying to turn our lives around
Since we were little kids.
It's been wearing us down.
Don't turn away now darling
Lets fire it up and wind it out
Come on baby drive south
with the one you love.
Give me some wheels
Put me on the highway
Won't look back.
Anyway I'll never be the angel you see in your dreams
Oh give me some wheels if I can't have wings.
Down the Yellow River Road
You know I always say that you ought to go
When you need some time alone -
But don't forget it's my road, too
Could be all this snow that's fallin'
Makin' me think there's something wrong
But that road goes both ways, darlin'
You could come home
Down the Yellow River Road.
I've got a four wheel drive
And I'm gonna take a ride
In the backwoods to the country
In the Southland right away -
So I'm loadin' up, headin' out, and leavin' right away.
Drove all the way up the coast of California
All the way up the 101
One time we cruised all the way to Vancouver
Just to watch the settin' sun.
For the gang that digs just driving
There's a real cool route inland
But for top down dates
That coast road rates a hand
For the frantic fun,
It's Highway 101.
On a Tennessee road windin' down
From the hills of my hometown
Runnin' straight from my heart to my soul
Where every son and daughter knows
One lane comes and one lane goes
So hold my dreams 'til I come home
Tennessee road.
Now I been out in the desert, just doin' my time
Searchin' through the dust, lookin' for a sign.
If there's a light up ahead, well brother, I don't know
But I got this fever burnin' in my soul.
So let's take the good times as they go
And I'll meet you further on up the road.
I was a highwayman.
Along the coach roads I did ride
With sword and pistol by my side.
Many a young maid lost her baubles to my trade
Many a soldier shed his lifeblood on my blade.
I don't have to scrimp and save no more
Cause a mile down the highway
There's a toll bridge
And it belongs to me.
I don't have to save and scrimp and save no more.
I bought a strip of land in a big prime deal
And now I'm taxing everything that rolls on wheels.
Dear lord, give me strength to carry on.
My home may be out on the highway,
Lord, I've done so much wrong
But please, give me strength to carry on.
I'm a steady rollin' man
And I roll both night and day.
I was thinking about my little boy -
Sometimes I want to give it up.
It's the only life I know,
Playing guitar in smoky bars and
Living on the road.
Traffic in the city turns my head around.
Backed up on the freeway, backed up in the church,
Everywhere you look, there's a frown.
Just about a year ago, I set out on the road,
Seekin' my fame and fortune,
Lookin' for a pot of gold.
Things got bad, and things got worse,
I guess you will know the tune.
Oh Lord, stuck in Lodi again.
Rode in on the Greyhound,
I'll be walkin out if I go.
There's garbage on the sidewalk,
Highways in the back yard,
Police on the corner,
Mortgage on the car.
Move down the road I go.
Bring a song and a smile for the banjo,
Better get while the gettin's good,
Hitch a ride to the end of the highway
Where the neons turn to wood.
Smoke a-puffin', tires a-hummin'
Burnin' up the road
Countin' road signs and the miles to Baltimore.
One eye out for weighin' stations
One for radar traps
They can't stop me, 'cause my plans don't call for that.
One day I looked into my rear-view mirror,
And comin' up from behind
Was a Georgia State policeman,
And a hundred dollar fine.
Well, he looked me in the eye as he was writin' me up,
He said, "driver you been flyin'
And 95 was the route you was on,
It was not the speed limit sign."
And they call me Speedball, Speedball Tucker.
Out on an open highway,
Such a lovely day, but something's wrong -
I just left home this morning,
This old road keeps rollin' on and on.
95 South from Portland Maine
When am I ever gonna see you again -
95 South to Boston town
Honey, this tunnel is getting me down -
95 South off the Jersey Pike
Coffee colored Cadillac rollin' through the night -
95 South through the Carolina Pines
My head is swimming in the honeysuckle vines.
Highways and heartaches
Go together like you and me.
Do you ever think about it
When the night is sad and lonely?
You can set my truck on fire, roll it down a hill
But I still wouldn't trade it for a Coupe DeVille -
I met all my wives in traffic jams,
You know there's something women like about a Pickup Man
Got a road hawg on my mind
Got a Cadillac V-8 motovatin' down the line
Don't wave your pretty fist at me,
I'm on the freeway
Baby, I'm losin' time.
I recall that Twisy River Bridge
Over that painted river bed.
They pumped about a gallon of muddy water
Out of my salty head.
I woke up in St. James Devine
All wrapped up in plaster and twine.
Oh, that Twisty River Bridge
Was damn near the death of me.
Love, wine, and gasoline
Don't mix with jealousy.
On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light.
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim.
I had to stop for the night.
Life in the fast lane
Surely make you lose your mind.
Life in the fast lane,
Everything all the time,
Life in the fast lane
Well, my time went too quickly
I went lickety-splitly out to my ol' fifty-five.
As I pulled away slowly, feelin' so holy,
God knows I was feelin' alive.
And now the sun's comin' up
I'm ridin' with lady luck
Freeway cars and trucks.
I am an outlaw,
I was born an outlaw's son.
The highway is my legacy,
On the highway I will run -
A life upon the road
Is the life of an outlaw man.
Sometimes there's a part of me
Has to turn from here and go
Running like a child from these warm stars
Down the Seven Bridges Road
Well, I'm runnin' down the road
Tryin' to loosen my load.
I've got seven women on my mind,
Four that wanna own me,
Two that wanna stone me,
One says she's a friend of mine.
Take it easy, take it easy
Dont let the sound of your own wheels
Drive you crazy.
Leroy was a farmer and an honest man-
But a hard wind come and blew his dreams away.
So he headed for the West Coast, thought he could not lose
Rollin' down the highway with the dustbowl blues.
It's a thousand miles from Broken Bow to Bakersfield
And the highway's paved with heartaches all the way.
Leroy drove on lookin' for a better deal.
Now that you're gone, this ain't no place for me,
I want to start all over new.
But I can't lose these lonesome highway blues.
Down that long, lonesome highway
Just as fast as I can fly
Just wanna go someplace you won't be.
I am just a pilgrim on this road, boys
This ain't never been my home.
Sometimes the road was rocky 'long the way, boys
But I was never travelin' alone.
We'll meet again on some bright highway.
We've been wandering along such a long time
Lose our way as we go town to town
Believe us to be born into a path straight and narrow
On every crooked road we travel down
Well I'll ride this motorway
For a thousand miles a day
Till the road runs out of blacktop.
It's a nine hour drive from me to you
South on I-95.
And I'll do it till the day that I die if I need to
Just to see you.
There's a 100 million miles of blacktop
Coming at the speed of sound
She's flying right by the police
Ain't nothing going to slow her down.
She's bona fide
She's a number 1
And we smile through every mile we make,
Every single one
She's the queen of style
So sweet and bold
On the open road.
I've been drivin' all night,
My hand's wet on the wheel
There's a voice in my head
That drives my heel.
It's my baby callin',
Says I need you here
And it's half past four
And I'm shifting gear.
As I was walking a ribbon of highway
I saw above me an endless skyway
I saw below me a golden valley
This land was made for you and me
Sixty-Six was still a narrow two-lane highway
Harry Truman was the man who ran the show...
Slow dancin' close together when a ballad played
'Cause a thing called rock and roll was yet to come
It was a big year for a drive-in rest-rant carhop
That's the way it was in '51.
We got a junk of skunk
Box turtle flat
Schmere of deer
And a cat that is flat
Rigor mortis tortoise -
It looks like everybody's gonna be fed.
The owner says he thinks we need some work
Got a place for you, got some roadwork
Laying asphalt on the Interstate.
Take to the highway
Won't you lend me your name.
Your way and my way seem to be one and the same -
Guess my feet know where they want me to go
Walking on a country road.
The road goes on forever and the party never ends.
It's midnight on the Interstate
And I'm flyin' like a bird -
I'm headed down to San Antone,
Runnin' with the night.
For a while it satisfied my urge to roam
Here I am back out on the highway
Headed nowhere broke and all alone
I've traveled down this lonesome road before.
We both want to work so hard,
We can't get the chance,
People live on dead end street.
People are dying on dead end street.
Gonna die on dead end street.
Life is just a lonely highway
I'm out here on the open road -
I've got a pocket full of money
And a pocket full of keys that have no bounds.
Staying clear of the Interstate
I'm seeking out those old two lanes
Trying to explain the way I feel
Till all at once its half past three -
And forty-one goes on and on -
And the only thing I know for sure
Is if you don't want me anymore
Then I'm holding on to nothin but the wheel.
You look so fine
Ridin' round in your Mercury 49
Crazy 'bout a Mercury
Lord, I'm crazy 'bout a Mercury
I'm gonna buy me a Mercury
And cruise it up and down the road.
But where do I got from here
When I'm lost out on the road
And the way's not clear
To find my way back home.
I need to hear the only voice that leads me on
So I can find my way back to you.
Run your car off the side of the road
Get stuck in a ditch way out in the middle of nowhere
Or get yourself in a bind,
Lose the shirt off your back,
Need a floor, need a couch, need a bus fare-
This is where the rubber meets the road -
Find out who your friends are
Somebody's gonna drop everything
Run out and crank up their car
Hit the gas, get there fast.
Now the world's my castle and the grass my carpet and my heart is all my own.
The rain's my bath and Interstate 40 is my home sweet home.
Now when I die just plant me close to where the big trucks whine and moan
Just anywhere along ol' Interstate 40 will rest my weary bones
Ha ha ha, that's just my life...
Have you ever been driving down the road
And come upon a fella who was just pokin' along,
Straddlin' the white line?
And when you try to pass him, he'd speed up?
Well, 'round here we call this fella a Road Hog.
This car just don't want to roll.
Freedom's road must be under construction.
Sometimes you wonder what kind of freedom they're talking.
If you're here looking for the devil
You'll find him on Freedom's Road -
If you want to take a ride
Well you've got to pay the toll.
Ghost towns along the highway
Guess no one wants to live around here any more -
I guess no one believe in
Ghost towns along the highway
Ghost towns along the main highway.
Little girl disappeared and gone
From the rural route
Seven days missing, something's wrong
On the rural route
Amber alert all over the nation
From the rural route
Two lane highway full of cops
On the rural route.
Forty miles off the Interstate
There's an old mailbox and a barbed wire gate
Where an old dirt road cuts across the field.
Take it on down, there's a rusty plow
And old tine shed
And a rundown house
That's the place we all call home.
Look down that lonesome road
Before you travel on.
I hate to say goodbye
So I'll just say so long.
The road's long, baby, when will it ever end?
Don't know when I'll see her again -
Stay on the road
Gonna head to 80 West
Stay on the road, baby,
I can't stop thinkin' of you.
My love is in league with a freeway -
Leading me on, leading me down the road
Driving me on, driving me down the road -
There is no turning back on the run.
My love is in league with a freeway
Oh, the freeway and the coming of night time.
One more cup of coffee for the road,
One more cup of coffee 'fore I go
To the valley below.
The midnight headlight finds you on a rainy night
Steep grade up ahead slow me down makin' no time
Gotta keep rollin'
Those windshield wipers slappin' out a tempo
Keeping perfect rhythm with the song on the radio
Gotta keep rolling
Ooh I'm driving my life away, looking for a better way.
Detours, dead ends, endless explorations
You were my only destination
'Cause all my roads have led me to
This night, this love I share with you
And though the road was never smooth
Life has made me someone who
Could be the right someone for you.
Turn my collar to the wind and put my thumb up in the air
Flag a diesel down or catch a bus from anywhere,
Colorado, California, or even Kalamazoo.
As long as it will lead me back to you,
Any old stretch of blacktop will do.
Well if I can keep it on the ground
When I put that hammer down
Then I'll be Texas bound and aflyin'
I've got my 10 in the wind
Let it all hang out again
Cause how're you gonna win if you ain't trying
Well now we're all back together
And we're burnin' up the road.
Now I'm somewhere in Wyoming callin' from a pay phone
Just to tell you that I'm missin' you tonight.
I've got one life on the road and one with you at home
And it feels like one too many when I'm gone.
But I need one to make a livin' and one to make it all worthwhile
So I'll watch the miles slip away so I can finally call it a day.
Doggone, that girl wearin' nothin' but a smile and a towel
In the picture on the billboard in the field near the big old highway.
Sleepy headed, painter said the girl wasn't real and I better get on my way
On Route 66 from the billboard to Chicago.
I've been from Thunder Bay, to PA
All the way down to FLA, and every little town along the way.
There ain't much that I haven't seen.
I'm a road hammer, a white knuckled steel gear jammer
Rig jockey highway slammer, I'm just doin' what I gotta do.
I'm a road hammer, double talkin' CB grammar,
Haul your load from Alabama all the way to Timbuktoo.
Some days I don't know if I'll make it by.
The price of diesel's gettin' mighty high.
I live on caffeine and borrowed time
Stretchin' a nickel into a dime.
The G man, the T man, the highway cop
Try to slow me down but they can't make me stop.
I keep on truckin' (keep on truckin') -
These 18 wheels ain't stoppin' for nothin'.
When the goin' gets tough I just keep on truckin'.
My mamma said when I was born,
I was born on the run.
My daddy was a truck drivin' son of a gun.
Got a highway song runnin' through my brain,
Got diesel oil pumpin' through my veins,
Overdrive.
Gotta roll on just to survive
The only time I feel alive
Is when I kick it into Overdrive.
It's carbon and monoxide
The ol' Detroit perfume
It hangs on the highways
In the morning
And it lays you down by noon
A Trailways bus is heading south
Into Washington, D.C.
A mother and child, the baby maybe two months old
Prepare themselves for sleep and feeding.
The shadow of the Capitol dome slides across his face
And his heart is racing with the urge to freedom.
I walked the avenue till my legs felt like stone.
I heard the voices of friends vanished and gone.
At night I could hear the blood in my veins
Black and whispering as the rain
On the streets of Philadelphia.
I'm driving a big lazy car rushin' up the highway in the dark.
I got one hand steady on the wheel and one hand's tremblin' over my heart
It's pounding, baby, like it's gonna bust right on through
And it ain't gonna stop till I'm alone again with you -
They say he travels fastest who travels alone
But tonight I miss my girl, mister, tonight I miss my home.
I was young and green when I left and I found
A new life on the highway.
It was only me but I knew that someday
There'd be a woman running beside me.
But what I did not know is that love would be
So much a part of our freeway -
Oh on the highway on this asphalt dream that leads me
I can hear it, I can hear the highway call.
You can see them, headlights on the canyon wall
Nothing but you and me living good, living free
Highway rain out my window
Sea of grain, how the wind blows
Across my face and through my body.
Oh that breeze, I think it knows me.
I'm alive, hear me laughing,
Let that rain fall cold and splashing.
To be loved is to be happy
I think I'm ready for that now.
Rolling wrong down a one-way, lost in a dark daze
People honking at me - I just never saw the sign -
I try to find an easier way but I never do
'Cause there's only one way through
Pack up all your dishes
Make note of all good wishes -
Throw out those L.A. papers
Moldy box of Vanilla Wafers
Adios to all this concrete.
Gonna get me some dirt road backstreet
If I can just get off of that L.A. Freeway
Without getting killed or caught.
Standing at another place where roads divide,
So hold me close tonight 'cause tomorrow I may be gone
Somewhere down the road.
There's a place for me I ain't ever been.
Tears may fill my eyes when I go
When my heart seems to be a dream ahead of me
Somewhere down the road.
Well I was rollin' down the road in some cold blue steel,
I had a blues man in back, and a beautician at the wheel.
We goin' downtown in the middle of the night
We laughing and I'm jokin' and we feelin' alright.
Oh I'm bad, I'm nationwide.
