I could not wait to hear Burl Ives sing this on the radio, and despite some of the less favourable interpretations, it remains with me as a memory that has matured over the years. The song sums up the feeling that only touring musicians or similar trampers can experience. The desperately lonely feeling of hammering homeward through the night, seeing a house in the distance with the light still on in the bedroom area, with the rest in darkness, and knowing you have hundreds of miles to go until you can rest in your own bed. That feeling can be so bad, that I always stay over with friends after gigs. When I was young, I slept rough in the West Country and first encountered the sadness of the homeless. It never leaves you. It's funny how songs from your childhood can help—just my experience.
|