The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #169891 Message #4128158
Posted By: Joe Offer
06-Dec-21 - 01:41 AM
Thread Name: US Highways (fed and state) and songs about them
Subject: ADD: New Lee Highway Blues (David Bromberg)
Cool stuff, Jim. Where are Highway 53 and Route 23?
Named after Gen. Robert E. Lee, the Lee Highway was an Auto Trail that connected New York City and San Francisco via the south and southwest. It was named after Robert E. Lee.
Auto Trails were an informal network of highway routes in the U.S. and Canada in the early 20th century. Marked with colored bands on telephone poles along the road, they helped travelers find their way through a patchwork of different highway numbers on cross country road trips. The trails were marked by civic and fraternal organizations. The Lincoln Trail is probably the best known of these, and people used them extensively because many states and counties gave road improvements for the trails high priority to increase traffic and promote tourism.
NEW LEE HIGHWAY BLUES (David Bromberg)
All through Northern Oregon Always at my side Sleeping in those narrow beds And then we'd ride
Drinking in those dirty bars Keeping out of sight Sleeping in that cold back seat And then we'd ride
You know that God-damned road seemed like it went forever Exhaust fumes made our eyes turn red and swell With our clothes stuck to the seat and to our bodies It was a stinkin' summer trip to southern hell
Eating carbonated crap Churning up inside Gas-soaked service station johns And then we'd ride
Silence in the front seat Trying not to start to fight Quiet, half-hid cryin' And then we'd ride
You know you can grow to hate these crummy little one horse towns With their seamy movie houses long closed down No where to go from here but up and down the road And nothing over there but the same goddamned town
Another sour coffee cup One more piece of cardboard pie Buy a tooth brush and a change of clothes And then we'll ride