Song of the Evening II - Guy Clark : : L.A. Freeway - O MY SOUL

Guy Clark - L.A. Freeway

with thanks as ever to O MY Soul 

Clark featured singing on Nanci Griffith's Other Voices Other Rooms and he was one of her favourite 'country' songwriters. The guy was a master at writing the country steeped in the universal truisms and poetry but never quite made it on his own and didn't seem to travel well so we only discovered him here in Europe through covers by others [he wrote Desperados Waiting For A Train that featured as did he on Griffith's Other Voices Too] . . . . . both sadly lost to us now (Clark died in 2006 and Nanci we lost at 68 last year having beaten cancer twice before) and both are always worth checking out

Pack up all your dishes

Make note of all good wishes

And say goodbye to the landlord for me

That son of bitch has always bored me

Throw out them L.A. papers

That mouldy box of Vanilla Wafers

Adios, to all this concrete

Gonna get me some dirt road back streets

I can just get off of this L.A. freeway

Without gettin' killed or caught

Down that road in a cloud of smoke

To some land I ain't bought, bought, bought

And it's, here's to you, old Skinny Dennis

The only one I think I will miss

I can hear old bass singin'

Sweet and low like a gift you're bringin'

Play it for me one more time now

Got to give it all you can now

I believe every thing you're sayin'

Just to keep on, keep on playin'

I can just get off of this L.A. freeway

Without gettin' killed or caught

Down that road in a cloud of smoke

To some land I ain't bought, bought, bought

And you put the pink card in the mailbox

Leave the key in that old front door lock

They'll find it likely as not

I'm sure there's somethin' we have forgot

Oh, Susanna, don't you cry, baby

Love's a gift that's surely handmade

We got somethin' to believe in

Don't you think it's time, we're leavin'?

I can just get off of this L.A. freeway

Without gettin' killed or caught

Down the road in a cloud of smoke

To some land I ain't bought, bought, bought

If I can just get off of this L.A. freeway

Without gettin' killed or caught

Down the road in a cloud of smoke

To some land I ain't bought

So pack up all your dishes

Make note of all good wishes

And say goodbye to the landlord for me

That son of bitch has always bored me

Thank you

Here's a little song for y'all that might ever

Pounded any nails for a livin'

Or at least just hit your thumb a couple times

That counts too

Songwriters: Guy Clark

L.A. Freeway lyrics © Chappell & Co., Inc.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANCI GRIFFITH! . . . . . . Wherever you are!?

 It's Nanci Griffith's birthday and here she is around the time of promoting Other Voices, Other Rooms, her first album of covers with a favourite Bob Dylan song of mine

Nanci Griffith - Vocals and Guitar

Jerry Douglas  - Dobro

Donald Shaw - Piano Accordion

Danny Thompson - Double Bass

Tommy Hayes - Percussion

We have mentioned Nanci's disappearance and leaving of the world of music and it brings me sadness. Wherever she is we wish her the very very best and hope she is well and happy in all  she does. . . . my wife and I saw her play Oxford and were avid fans and have pretty much everything she officially released so she is a star through whom we discovered the legend that is John Prine and know wherever she is that she mourned his passing just as we all did and do . . . . . . . . . . we missed you at his passing as we miss you now, we love you 

Happy birthday to Nanci Griffith, born in Seguin, Texas on this day in 1953.  

Take heed, take heed of the western wind. Take heed of stormy weather.