“Homeward Bound” by Simon and Garfunkel is a strong one. “All my words come back to me/ in shades of mediocrity/ like emptiness in harmony” is such a mood. Been there.
I didn't think about it because I initially thought of "America" which isn't a touring song, but I didn't think about "Homeward Bound" which would definitely fit.
I love Tom T. Hall's songs, and 'Homecoming' is among the best. Thanks for teasing the topic with such a great song. While reading, another song I flashed to was Iris DeMent's 'No Time to Cry'. It's not a road song as such but it feels to me like the logical follow-on to 'Homecoming'. The father's died, she returns for the funeral, then heads back on the road. Among many killer lines is 'I stayed at home just long enough to lay him in the ground / And then I caught a plane to do a show up north in Detroit town'.
Merle Haggard covered DeMent's song (I didn't love his lyric change of 'girl' to 'Merle', but was glad he took the song on). Haggard has plenty of road songs of his own, though not always clear whether they're about musicians. 'White Line Fever' is not necessarily about musicians on the road but it can be - 'I've been from coast to coast a hundred times or more / And I ain't found one single place where I ain't been before' and 'The wrinkles in my forehead show the miles I've put behind me'. Ditto 'Ramblin' Fever': 'My hat don't hang on the same nail too long'. My favourite is 'Footlights': 'I live the kind of life / that most men only dream of / I make my living writing songs / and singing them / But I'm forty-one years old / and I ain't got no place to go when it's over / But I hide my age and make the stage / And try to kick the footlights out again'.
Oh, and Townes Van Zandt, who Merle and Willie famously covered. His 'A Song For' is about wanting to leave the wandering troubadour life behind: 'London to Dublin, Australia to Perth / I gazed at your sky, I tasted your earth / Sung out my heart for what it was worth / Never again shall I ramble'.
And Joni MItchell's 'Coyote', which is about so many things but the white lines of the freeway run through it as the connecting thread and evoke so much about what it means to be an artist on the move.
Best road song? IMHO, Johnny Cash's "I've Been Everywhere:"
https://youtu.be/CAEU1yANRSY?si=P2qD4L4R4AetnyEo
A classic.
“Homeward Bound” by Simon and Garfunkel is a strong one. “All my words come back to me/ in shades of mediocrity/ like emptiness in harmony” is such a mood. Been there.
That is a good one.
I didn't think about it because I initially thought of "America" which isn't a touring song, but I didn't think about "Homeward Bound" which would definitely fit.
Gotta go with "We're an American Band" by Grand Funk (produced, of course, by Todd Rundgren).
I love Tom T. Hall's songs, and 'Homecoming' is among the best. Thanks for teasing the topic with such a great song. While reading, another song I flashed to was Iris DeMent's 'No Time to Cry'. It's not a road song as such but it feels to me like the logical follow-on to 'Homecoming'. The father's died, she returns for the funeral, then heads back on the road. Among many killer lines is 'I stayed at home just long enough to lay him in the ground / And then I caught a plane to do a show up north in Detroit town'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7VGGmTJqZs
Merle Haggard covered DeMent's song (I didn't love his lyric change of 'girl' to 'Merle', but was glad he took the song on). Haggard has plenty of road songs of his own, though not always clear whether they're about musicians. 'White Line Fever' is not necessarily about musicians on the road but it can be - 'I've been from coast to coast a hundred times or more / And I ain't found one single place where I ain't been before' and 'The wrinkles in my forehead show the miles I've put behind me'. Ditto 'Ramblin' Fever': 'My hat don't hang on the same nail too long'. My favourite is 'Footlights': 'I live the kind of life / that most men only dream of / I make my living writing songs / and singing them / But I'm forty-one years old / and I ain't got no place to go when it's over / But I hide my age and make the stage / And try to kick the footlights out again'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdghtsNWXoQ
This week I'm writing about Merle's running buddy Willie Nelson, so it feels obligatory to mention 'On the Road Again': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBN86y30Ufc
Oh, and Townes Van Zandt, who Merle and Willie famously covered. His 'A Song For' is about wanting to leave the wandering troubadour life behind: 'London to Dublin, Australia to Perth / I gazed at your sky, I tasted your earth / Sung out my heart for what it was worth / Never again shall I ramble'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpXkmbZRblk
And Joni MItchell's 'Coyote', which is about so many things but the white lines of the freeway run through it as the connecting thread and evoke so much about what it means to be an artist on the move.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWUgPIQNgGo