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