Busted flat in Baton Rouge, waiting for a train
And I's feeling nearly as faded as my jeans.
Bobby thumbed a diesel down just before it rained,
It rode us all the way to New Orleans.
I pulled my harpoon out of my dirty red bandanna,
I was playing soft while Bobby sang the blues.
Windshield wipers slapping time, I was holding Bobby's hand in mine,
We sang every song that driver knew.
-- Janis Joplin, "Me and Bobby McGee" (lyrics and music by Kris Kristofferson)
And Jesus was a sailor
When he walked upon the water
And he spent a long time watching
From his lonely wooden tower
And when he knew for certain
Only drowning men could see him
He said 'All men will be sailors then
Until the sea shall free them'
-- Leonard Cohen, "Suzanne"
Mama Hated Diesels
Kevin Farrell / Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen
(Chorus)
Mama hated diesel so bad
I guess I knew it was something to do with Dad
The first time I seen her cry
Was after one of them things went by
Mama hated diesel so bad
I remember hearing those semi gearing down
My mom and me we used to live on the high-grade end of town
I sure like them wide freightliners
But there was something in Mama's eye
When she catch me watching the road
Lord a little bitty piece of her died
Chorus
(Spoken)
As the years passed and I grew older
Mama did too
Pretty soon she stopped singing and laughing
Why she'd hardly even eat.
And I began staying away from home on the weekdays
I wouldn't come home from school 'til way past dark
I was too busy having some kind of fun
Either messing around with some gal
Or hanging around the local truck stop
Talking to my buddies about all the big rigs
That all the time were rolling in
And talking about all the crazy places we never been
Like California
Oh one day the county sheriff come up to me
He said they found my mama wandering
All by herself in the middle of the highway crying
She was trying of all things Lord
To flag down one of those big old rigs with a pocket handkerchief
Well that left me on my own
I got a job unloading rigs at the local freight yard
Pretty soon I had a rig of my own
And I left my hometown on my very first run to Frisco
Well that was three years ago today
And I ain't been back home in all that time since then 'til now
(Sing)
Now it's me and the local preacher
Standing in the graveyard grass
Staring down at the highway
Watching those big boys pass
Well he laid his hand upon me
And he prayed for quite some time
But I could barely understand the words he said
Behind that highway's whine
Then he handed me a faded photograph
He said he found it in my mama's hand
He said "Son I'm afraid that you and this picture
Were the best your Mama ever had"
Well I looked down at that picture
It was Mama and some guy
Standing in front of a semi-truck
"Just Married" painted on the side.
Chorus
I was born in Mechanicsburg
my Daddy worked for Pontiac 'til he got hurt
now he's on disability
and I got his old job in the factory
sayin, "Yes, sir. No, sir.
Yes, sir. No, sir.
Yes, sir. No, sir. Hey!"
-- Warren Zevon, Factory
An engineer told me before he died
An engineer told me before he died,
Ah-hum, ah-hum.
An engineer told me before he died,
I have no reason to believe he lied................
I've been workin' on the railroad
All the live-long day
I've been workin' on the railroad
Just to pass the time away
Traditional song
In 1814, we took a little trip
Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip
We took a little bacon and we took a little beans
And we fought the Bloody British at the town of New Orleans
-- Johnny Horton, "The Battle of New Orleans"
last verse and chorus of "the Magnetic Fields" song "Papa Was A Rodeo"
And now it's 55 years later
We've had the romance of the century
After all these years wrestling gators
I still feel like crying when I think of what you said to me
Papa was a rodeo - Mama was a rock'n'roll band
I could play guitar and rope a steer before I learned to stand
Home was anywhere with diesel gas - Love was a trucker's hand
Never stuck around long enough for a one night stand
Before you kiss me you should know
Papa was a rodeo
He got a real long reach in the derrick when he leans
He's been all around the world on the big oil rigs
With the welders and the trucks on the black gold rush
And the diesel burnin' Cat motors growlin' and the mud
You'd better hire him on, he's the roughest neck around
He got the power in his hands to pull the dragons from the ground
Yeah.
Roughest Neck Around -- Corb Lund
In South Australia I was born
Heave away, haul away
In South Australia 'round Cape Horn
We're bound for South Australia
Haul away you rollin' boys
Heave away, haul away
Haul away you rollin' boys
We're bound for South Australia
-- "South Australia," traditional sailors' "chanty"
I am a long haul driver and I'm leaving at dawn
I'll be home before you wake so leave the porch light on
Long Haul Driver -- Luke Doucet
I've been drivin' all night
My hands are wet on the wheel
-- Golden Earring, "Radar Love"
The Log Drivers Waltz
If you should ask any girl from the parish around
What pleases her most from her head to her toes,
She'll say - I'm not sure that it's business of yours,
But I do like to waltz with a log driver.
Chorus:
For he goes birling down a-down the white water;
That's where the log driver learns to step lightly.
It's birling down, a-down white water;
A log driver's waltz pleases girls completely.
Left a good job in the city
Working for the man every night and day
And I never lost one minute of sleep
Worryin' 'bout the way things might have been
The big wheel keeps on turnin',
Proud Mary keeps on burnin'
Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river
Cleaned a lot of plates in Memphis
Pumped a lot of pain in New Orleans
Proud Mary
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Tillsonburg - Stompin' Tom Connors
Hey Tom, You ever been to Tillsonburg?
Tillsonburg? My back still aches when I hear that word
Well, a way down Southern Ontario
I never had a nickle or a dime to show
A fella beeped up in an automobile
He said "You'll want to work in the Tobacco field's of
Tillsonburg (Tillsonburg) x2
My back still aches when I hear that word
He said I'll only give ya seven bucks a day
But if you're any good you'll get a raise in pay
Your beds already on the bunkhouse floor
If it gets a little chilly ya can close the door
Tillsonburg (Tillsonburg)
It was Tillsonburg (Tillsonburg)
My back still aches when I hear that word
I was feelin' in the morning anything but fine
The farmer said I'm gonna teach ya how to prime
He said ya gotta dawn a pair of oil skin pants
If ya want to work in the Tobacco plants of
Tillsonburg (Tillsonburg) x2
My back still aches when I hear that word
We landed in a field that was long and wide
With one ol' horse and five more guys
I asked them where to find the cigarette trees
When he said bend over I was ready to leave
Tillsonburg (Tillsonburg) x2
My back still aches when I hear that word
He said just to pick the bottom leaves
And don't start crawling on your hands and knees
Prime your load cause you'll get no pay
For standin' there pickin' at your nose all day 'round
Tillsonburg (Tillsonburg) x2
My back still aches when I hear that word
With a broken back bendin' over there
I was wet right through to the underwear
And it was stuck to my skin like glue
From the nicotine tar on the morning dew of
Tillsonburg (Tillsonburg) x2
My back still aches when I hear that word
Now the nearest river was two miles from
The place where they was waitin' for the boat to come
When I heard some talk of makin' the kill
I was down the highway and over the hill from
Tillsonburg (Tillsonburg) x2
My back still aches when I hear that word
Now there is one thing you can always bet
If I never smoke another cigarette
I might get taken in alot of deals
But I won't go workin' the tobacco fields of
Tillsonburg (Tillsonburg) x2
My back still aches when I hear that word
My back still aches when I hear that word(x4)
Copper on the corner and he loaded two rounds
And I can't even cross the line to talk you down
Kathleen Edwards -- Six O'Clock News
Well then I run into my favourite aunt
And she says “Corb, you still playin in that band?
Well, I guess as long as you're havin' fun
And you make a little money but we're prayin' for ya, son”
Corb Lund -- Family Reunion
@Tai Chi,
Who draws the crowd and plays so loud,
Baby it's the guitar man.
Who's gonna steal the show, you know
Baby it's the guitar man
-- Bread
Nice job, everyone. That was fun. I started a new one -- this one should be a little harder!
@boomerang,
1 more.
There's a girl in my office
she keeps on stoppin'
right in front of my eye
-- The Style Council,
Wanted
