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27 Jan 18 - 09:56 AM (#3902160) Subject: keys to the highway -dumb question From: Big Al Whittle i know its a dumb question, but i have dull prosaic mind, and i hate singing what i don't understand. he says he's got the keys to the highway then he says something like 'billed up and bound to roam' if he doesn't say billed up, what does he say? if he does say billed up - what does that mean? apologies in advance for asking a question which obviously doesn't bother anyone else. |
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27 Jan 18 - 10:03 AM (#3902164) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: GUEST,Modette 'I'm billed out and bound to go.' |
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27 Jan 18 - 11:02 AM (#3902181) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: leeneia It's never bothered me till now, because I've never heard the song. In the first place, highways don't have keys. I may have the keys to the car, but not the keys to the highway. |
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27 Jan 18 - 11:11 AM (#3902184) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: Big Al Whittle the keys and the highway are a metaphor for personal freedom. https://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&p=big+bill+broonzy+keys+to+the+highway#id=51&vid=11f99a459168b498651b86 |
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27 Jan 18 - 12:22 PM (#3902209) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: Big Al Whittle billed up....billed out....is he a duck? |
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27 Jan 18 - 12:37 PM (#3902215) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: Jeri He paid his bill. |
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27 Jan 18 - 01:28 PM (#3902239) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: meself When I learned that song - way back before it was written, I think - I couldn't make out that line, and have always sung 'Packed up and bound to go' - which is nowhere near as cool; after all, what do you have to pack other than your guitar? Anything else fits in a matchbox, anyway .... |
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27 Jan 18 - 01:35 PM (#3902241) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: GUEST,guestrs ' Booked out & bound to go' to my ears. |
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27 Jan 18 - 01:35 PM (#3902242) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: Nick I'm riding a metaphor that I don't understand Holding tight to a world that similes can't stand And my hope for a thing that I can't feel or touch Is to find a rhyme for that last line |
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27 Jan 18 - 02:00 PM (#3902250) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: GUEST Billed-up: grip of money, maybe? |
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27 Jan 18 - 02:35 PM (#3902254) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: GUEST,paperback^ Fistful of dollars, n_gger rich? Just guessing |
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27 Jan 18 - 05:20 PM (#3902265) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: Jeri Nick: ...is that maybe, one day, I won't care so much. |
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27 Jan 18 - 06:00 PM (#3902277) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: GUEST,Hootenanny "Billed Out" = Entered in a railway book as a passenger See Stephen Calt's book Barrelhouse Words. Apparently 19th century US slang. Who's version of the song are you referring to? I am also puzzled by someone above "learning he song before it was written" Am I missing something |
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27 Jan 18 - 06:10 PM (#3902278) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: meself Some lame humour, that's all ... ! |
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27 Jan 18 - 06:23 PM (#3902279) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: GUEST,Hootenanny Sorry I didn't get the joke. I thought perhaps there was an older song from which the recorded versions developed. Alway liked it from when I first heard Big Bill Broonzy do it. |
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27 Jan 18 - 06:31 PM (#3902280) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: Big Al Whittle i suppose i heard Broonzy play it first. And to be honest - I'm not sure I've heard anyone play it better |
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28 Jan 18 - 06:21 AM (#3902347) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: Nick Jeri :) It was a bit in jest I have to say but perhaps I should pursue it ... |
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28 Jan 18 - 08:44 AM (#3902362) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: GUEST,Roderick a warner My favourite version was by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, though not heard it for a while. Think the start was: 'I've got the key to the highway/Lord, but I'm bound to go/Going to leave here running because/walking is just too slow' ... |
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28 Jan 18 - 08:54 AM (#3902363) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: GUEST ... or not! Just checked a YouTube version by Terry and McGhee and they do the 'billed up and bound to go' version... but I've heard the 'Lord but I'm bound to go' before, even sung it way back. Possibly nicked from Don Baker's version, who had toured with Terry and McGhee... |
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28 Jan 18 - 01:06 PM (#3902399) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: Bee-dubya-ell My interpretation (for what it's worth): The singer doesn't have a literal key to an automobile. Nor is he literally "billed up and bound to go". (He doesn't have passage booked on a train.) He doesn't have the money for either of those. He either spent all his money on the woman who wrecked his life, or she took it from him. The only "key" he has is the freedom that comes from admitting he's in a bad situation and needs to do whatever it takes to get out of it. He may hitchhike, jump a freight train, or use his own two feet. Either way, he's gone. |
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28 Jan 18 - 03:18 PM (#3902444) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch Big Al: the keys and the highway are a metaphor for personal freedom. Hootenanny: "Billed Out" = Entered in a railway book as a passenger Billed out and bound to (or for) is a general freight & passenger expression, works for an old Trailways or Greyhound bus too. I always took it as the indigent version of the Midnight Special. If not picked up by family, or paying their own way, released inmates were bused to the State or County line by the prison. They had to walk... or run, from there on. |
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28 Jan 18 - 08:09 PM (#3902522) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch wikis: Waybill Bill of Lading |
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29 Jan 18 - 11:40 AM (#3902593) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: leeneia I just listened to the link that Big Al gave upthread. He is singing, I got the keys to the highway. Yes, and I do and I'm bound to go. Nothing there about "billed" whatsoever. (As my sister-in-law from Tennessee would say.) It's interesting that "the" in "the highway" has a long e. |
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29 Jan 18 - 11:53 AM (#3902600) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: meself "Yes, I'm billed out and bound to go" is what I hear - clearly and distinctly ... we must be listening to different recordings, or something. Also: "key" - singular. |
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29 Jan 18 - 01:34 PM (#3902634) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: Big Al Whittle well it obviously means bugger all and matters even less. i suppose it shows how my approach to folk music has been such an isolating experience. there have been dozens of cover versions of the song. i've been the first person to give a shit about such a niggling point. |
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30 Jan 18 - 11:35 AM (#3902846) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: GUEST I suspect thee are a few BBB versions out there. leeneia could you copy a link to the one you were playing? Big Al's link is to a Yahoo search and the links is offered might change & might be different in different countries. Leeneia what do you hear on this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY4wnTjnguk or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN_f0WVsHuw and this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8xc4x9xs8o |
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31 Jan 18 - 10:54 AM (#3903042) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: leeneia Guest, thanks. I'll check the links later. ============== "He either spent all his money on the woman who wrecked his life, or she took it from him." BWL, don't be so quick to judge her. Jailbirds and similar are noted for blaming somebody else, anybody else, for the things they've done wrong. Now I'm off to teach sewing. |
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01 Feb 18 - 10:25 PM (#3903337) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: leeneia re the 3 links First one is the same as Big Al Whittle's. He's saying yes, I do now I"m bound to go Second one - has some word that starts with b. could be billed Third one - not available. |
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01 Feb 18 - 10:35 PM (#3903341) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: meself That's not the same BBB recording I listened to earlier - but I still hear him saying clearly (though not QUITE as clearly) "billed out and bound to go". |
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04 Feb 18 - 02:45 PM (#3903799) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: GUEST,lhud john billed up to go means he's got money in his pocket to see him alright after he has left ! simple |
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04 Feb 18 - 04:12 PM (#3903814) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch lhud john: got any sources for that? Cut and paste the following into your fav search engine: "billed out" "waybill" "billed out" "bill of lading" Anything but simple, one can also find it in both Admiralty Law (read above) and the U.S. Code of Federal Regs. Ships, planes, cars and trains, it's still in use today. |
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04 Feb 18 - 08:23 PM (#3903845) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: GUEST,paperback Still in use for freight, passengers buy tickets. |
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04 Feb 18 - 08:26 PM (#3903846) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: GUEST,paperback Money in his pocket...Back pocket, in a billfold. |
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05 Feb 18 - 02:41 PM (#3903967) Subject: RE: keys to the highway -dumb question From: GUEST,paperback OTOH airline pilots refer to passengers as self-loading freight |