US Highways (fed and state) and songs about them

Subject: Lyr Add: POMPTON TURNPIKE (W Osborne, D Rogers)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 22 Jan 24 - 06:39 PM

My transcription from the recording at the Internet Archive. I have used dashes to indicate pauses in the rhythm.


POMPTON TURNPIKE
(Will Osborne, Dick Rogers)
As recorded by Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five (vocal by Louis Jordan) on Decca 8500 A, 1940.

Pompton—Turnpike:
That’s a very famous Jersey roadway
Full of—country—charm.
Pompton—Turnpike
Leads you to a place not far from Broadway.
Still it’s—on a—farm.
  You dine with life subdued.
  The music interlude
  Puts you right in the mood
  To dance and find yourself romance.
Pompton—Turnpike:
Ride your bike, or if you like, just hitchhike.
Come to—Pompton—Turnpike.

You can ride your bike, if you like,
But if you can’t ride a bike, you better hitchhike
To Pompton,
To Pompton,
Better come to—Pompton—Turnpike.


[From the Wikipedia article, Newark-Pompton Turnpike:

Charlie Barnet recorded the song Pompton Turnpike, which was written by Will Osborne and Dick Rogers, about the Meadowbrook, a swing era performance venue on Pompton Avenue in Cedar Grove, NJ. It is now a Macedonian Orthodox Church. The song was covered as a jazz/blues vocal version by Louis Jordan, the "King of the Jukebox" in the 1940s.

You can also hear Barnet’s recording at the Internet Archive, but it is an instrumental.

[A catalog entry at the University of Alberta library indicates that there is a missing verse that begins: “Stranger, can you tell me where I'll find a certain highway leading to a very famous rendez-vous?”]

Subject: RE: US Highways and songs about them
From: cnd
Date: 26 Mar 24 - 08:51 AM

Grapes On the Vine mentions Route 22, which I believe is US Route 22 as it passes through Pittsburgh

(FYI -- not sure if this is a recent change, but my attempts to post were met with an error informing me the Subject title was 52 characters, two over a 50-character limit.)

Subject: RE: US Highways (fed and state) and songs about them
From: David C. Carter
Date: 27 Mar 24 - 09:59 AM

Hank Williams:Lost Highway

Arlo Guthrie:Highway in the Wind

Subject: RE: US Highways (fed and state) and songs about them
From: GUEST,paperback
Date: 14 Jun 24 - 07:46 PM

The Devil Wears a Suit and Tie
Colter Wall
Well
Reverend Reverend please come quick
'Cause I got something to admit
I met a man out in the sticks
A good old miss
He drove a series 10 cadillac
And wore cigar on his lip
Don't you know the Devil wears a suit and tie
I saw him driving down the sixty one in early July
White as a cotton field
And sharp as a knife
I heard him howlin' as he passed me by
And he said
I know you I know you, young man
I know you by the state of your hands
You're a six string picker
Just as I... I am
Let me learn ya some I know a few turns to make all the girls dance
Don't you know the Devil wears a suit and tie
I saw him driving down the sixty one in early July
White as a cotton field
And sharp as a knife
I heard him howlin' as he passed me by

Foolish foolish was I

Damn my foolish eyes
Cause that man's lessons had a price
Oh sweet price

My sweet soul
Everlasting
My very own
Eternal light

Don't you know the Devil wears a suit and tie
I saw him driving down the sixty one in early July
White as a cotton field
And sharp as a knife
I heard him howlin' as he passed me by
Well the Devil wears a suit and tie
I saw him driving down the sixty one in early July
White as a cotton field
And sharp as a knife
I heard him howlin'
As he passed me
By

Subject: RE: US Highways (fed and state) and songs about them
From: Neil D
Date: 15 Jun 24 - 03:13 AM

Woody Guthrie's "the Asch Recordings" 1944 and 1945 included his song "Hard Traveling" with the line "I've been walking that Lincoln Highway / I thought you knowed".
The Lincoln Highway being US 30, the first coast to coast road. It ran from Time Square to San Fransisco. Other than the brief mention by Guthrie there have been many songs written about the Lincoln Highway including 3 marches and a symphony.

Subject: RE: US Highways (fed and state) and songs about them
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 16 Jun 24 - 07:05 AM

Long Long Time To Get Old (Ian Tyson) from Great Speckled Bird (1969) - and a great album too!

The eagle’s flying tomorrow, mosquito biting me today
I ride the bus to Toronto,. Highway 2 all the way
I take a walk along Yonge Street, where good times are bought and sold
Remember this, children, if the good Lord’s willing, live a long long time to get old

Yonge Street, Toronto, is a major arterial route in the Canadian province of Ontario connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes.
Ontario's first colonial administrator, John Graves Simcoe, named the street for his friend Sir George Yonge, an expert on ancient Roman roads.

Subject: RE: US Highways (fed and state) and songs about them
From: cnd
Date: 10 Jul 24 - 08:45 AM

Can't believe I forgot about this song for so long... Pure Prairie League's famous roast of Merle Haggard (and country singers in general) pretending to be country, but not actually *being* country....

It's already on Mudcat (click) so I won't repeat the lyrics.

Subject: Highway 1 and Highway 101 - oops
From: GUEST,Ancient Matriarch
Date: 13 Jul 24 - 01:02 PM

I made this up when I was living on Comptche-Ukiah Road, three miles east of the town (not village) of Mendococino. Despite what Siri says, it's pronounced com-chee.
I recommend mudcatters heading south from Mendo take 101, as the southbound lane of Coast Highway 1 has fallen into the ocean.


To the tune of Country Roads:

Almost normal, Mendocino
Sprouts at Corners, coffee at the Good Life.
Life is weird here, weirder than you think
Raccoons in the garbage, spiders in the sink

Comptche Road, take me home
Where it ain’t so darn quaint
Where there’s no one taking photos
Take me home, Comptche Road.

I see them out on the headlands, staring at their phones
“Is that a dolphin or a whale?” is what they say.
“Give us all your money,” say the shopkeepers,
“And then go back to San Jose…”

Highway One
Take them home
To the place they belong
San Francisco, Palo Alto
Take them home, 101.

I hear their voices as I drive in to get my mail
“Is there a bathroom in this town?” is what they say.
Looking for a parking space, I’m wishing
That they all had gone home yesterday
Yesterday

Subject: RE: US Highways (fed and state) and songs about them
From: cnd
Date: 10 Dec 24 - 08:42 PM

Here's a song about California's Route 1, also known as the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH). It's a modern one but I've been digging it lately. listen

CALIFORNIA POPPY by THEO LAWRENCE

Don't pick up strangers on the road
As a young boy I was told
But I could never ever listen
I was en route to Monterey
She was headin' the same way
All aboard my Silverado

CHORUS
She's a California poppy of the PCH
Bloomin' on the roadside
Hitchin' and a-thumbin' and a-bummin' a ride
In a golden ray of sunshine

She was a hipster from the town
Smokin' reefer by the pound
And her ways were kinda groovy
She kept her shades on for the ride
Now there was somethin' she was tryin' to hide
I couldn't put my finger on it

CHORUS

We made a stop at a service station
For a little bit of relaxation
And a little bit of gasoline
She stole my keys and then she rode away
And for the gas I had to pay
So I wrote my song about it

CHORUS

Subject: RE: US Highways (fed and state) and songs about them
From: Dorothy Parshall
Date: 10 Dec 24 - 09:56 PM

Well, just as a matter of interest, I scrolled on through looking for mention of route 1, the main road from Maine to Georgia ---to Florida?- but Dad always said Georgia. It was a five minute walk through the woods and pasture to the bus stop on Route 1 (the Baltimore Pike). Not a single song?

I guess that wasn't a very interesting part of the country!