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!

Subject: RE: US Highways (fed and state) and songs about them
From: GUEST,paperback
Date: 13 Apr 25 - 01:33 AM

Loneliest Road That I Know

Guy Davis

Album: Give In Kind

Well that 61 highway is the loneliest road that I know
Well that 61 highway is the loneliest road that I know
She run from New York City run right by my baby's door

Well some people say, say the Greyhound busses they don't run
Well some people say, say the Greyhound busses they don't run
Well, go to West Memphis baby look down Highway 61

Please. please see somebody for me
Please. please see somebody for me
If you see my baby tell her she's alright, she's alright with me

If I should happen to die doubt babe,
honey before you think my time have come
If I should happen to die doubt baby,
honey before you think my time have come
I want you to bury my body right there by Highway 61

Subject: RE: US Highways (fed and state) and songs about them
From: Sol
Date: 13 Apr 25 - 06:05 AM

As far as I know, Route 66 meets the Pacific at Santa Monica Boulevard.

"All I Wanna Do" - Sheryl Crow

Subject: RE: US Highways (fed and state) and songs about them
From: Sol
Date: 13 Apr 25 - 06:11 AM

One of my old favourites....
"Last Exit To Brooklyn" - Gene Pitney

"Last Exit To Brooklyn"

Subject: RE: US Highways (fed and state) and songs about them
From: GUEST,paperback
Date: 13 Apr 25 - 11:27 PM

Dorothy Parshall, thanks for the interesting Sunday drive. US 1, were it all started; also known as the Atlantic Highway, (our cousins in the British Isles also have one:-)

Anyroad, no mention of a number but this could very well be about US 1


Touch of Pennsylvania

Subject: RE: US Highways (fed and state) and songs about them
From: Pappy Fiddle
Date: 15 Apr 25 - 12:10 AM

Yikes, Joe, it's like you pulled the cork out of the dike... so what'll it hurt to add one more.

Growing up in L.A. with family up north we had numerous occasions to travel on Hwy 99. In the cold season there was sometimes thick fog. Kinda scary to be unable to see ~anything~ beyond the hood of the car, everybody creeping along about 10 mph except the occasional car bowling along at normal speed. So, I put together this:

Wreck in the Fog
Woody Brison 2025

Up old Highway 99
On a sunny day the drive's just fine
On a foggy day it's worth your life
Be careful sonny how you drive

The fog's as thick as mama's soup
You can't see anything worth a hoot
You can't see the ornament on the hood
Be careful people and drive real good

Even if you drive real slow
There'll be some fool who doesn't know
He won't see a thing until he's hit it
Lord have mercy on them drivin' in it

Up old Highway 99
On a sunny day the drive's just fine
On a foggy day it's worth your life
Be careful sonny how you drive

Tom Duval was going real slow
Feeling his way you'd almost say
But not everybody was that wise
Fools should not be allowed to drive

Sam was the man you know the one
He came bowlin' along like he always done
And smacked Tom's car like a billiard ball
And into the ditch went Tom Duval

Up old Highway 99
On a sunny day the drive's just fine
On a foggy day it's worth your life
Be careful sonny how you drive

Then Mrs. Crowley slammed in fast
Then two or three others added to the mass
Along came a Freightliner doin' fifty five
Who taught that idiot how to drive

Now farmer Frank he heard the noise
And he dialed up the Highway Patrol
Highway Patrol dispatched some boys
By the time they arrived there were fifty cars all told

Up old Highway 99
On a sunny day the drive's just fine
On a foggy day it's worth your life
Be careful sonny how you drive


Still workin' on a tune for it.

Subject: RE: US Highways (fed and state) and songs about them
From: GUEST,paperback
Date: 15 Aug 25 - 04:44 PM

Will Rogers Highway
Words and Music by Woody Guthrie


This big highway goes from coast to coast,
From New Yorker town down to Los Angeles;
It's named for Willy Rogers that went on this road
From New Yorker town down to Los Angeles .

My Sixty-Six highway, this Will Rogers road,
It's lined with jalopies just as far as I can see;
Can you think up a joke, Will, for all o'these folks
From New Yorker town down to Lost Angeles?

Ten thousand lost families I count every day
Caught under my bridges and under my trees;
Can you make up a joke that'll win them a job
From New Yorker town down to Lost Angeles?

I love Willy Rogers, I love your big smile,
I go to my showhouse, Will Rogers to see;
Can you grin up a tale that'll feed my folks stranded
'Twist New Yorker town and Lost Angeles?

This Will Rogers highroad I hitched lots o'times;
All day long you sizzle; all night long I freeze;
Did ye tickle Hoover enuf ta build us all houses
From New Yorker town down to Lost Angeles?

Willy Rogers got born down around Oolagah,
In my great Indian nation of the Cherokee;
My Indians all call this the Hungry Gut Highway
From New Yorker town down to Lost Angeles.

I bummed this good road with folks you call Goons,
And your high families called us the lost refugees;
You hafta go back, Will, and tickle 'em again
From New Yorker town down to Lost Angeles.


Sixty-Six Highway

Subject: RE: US Highways (fed and state) and songs about them
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 15 Aug 25 - 05:05 PM

This may have been posted here before but here's Highway 95 by Chicago bluegrassers Special Consensus with dobro ace Rob Ickes.