What makes for a classic road song? Easy. It’s any song that has the Groove embedded so deeply in the bones of its soul that, at highway speeds, everything — the sky, the wind, the trees the clouds the centerline of the two to sixteen lane blacktop — just starts clicking up and flicking by in perfect time to the song. In that mode, in cruise control, the road song doesn’t miss a beat.
In other words:
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My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of
universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I
reach my hands and play with pebbles of
destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs
reading “Keep Off.”
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive
in the universe.
Gerard Van der Leun
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Though their number is legion, LaGrange still remains for me the quintessential road song. Even as when I heard it for the first time, the hairs on my neck and arms stand up when the staccato pickin’ and sticks clickin’ intro comes over the air.
Saw the ‘Top back in 2010. Couldn’t believe how tight the band was. And Jimi Hendrix was right to praise Billy Gibbons when the latter was still a teen — the only guitarist I ever saw live who rivaled his licks was Keith Richards.
Here’s my favorite song by *That Little Ol’ Band From Texas*: a tribute to the outlaw Mexican border-radio stations that first brought American roots-music to our airwaves. (The “Doctor B” mentioned in the lyrics was the infamous quack “Dr” John Brinkley, who pioneered the use of these outlaw frequencies to shill his spurious sexual-rejuvenation schemes.)
https://youtu.be/WPTfIPHLUcw
The World Council of Road Songs needs to come up with a ruling that states — You are not permitted to do a 7 minute version of “La Grange”
The whole point of the song is urgency. It starts gently and then shifts into third gear at 0:30. Then Billy Gibbons mumbles some unintelligible sh*t about a whorehouse (Or so Im told) until about 1:10. And then they kick it into 50 seconds of rock nirvana which resolves into a total sonic orgasm at the 2:00 – 2:10 mark
And not just any orgasm. Im talking full audio headboard shot ejac. Urgency, that’s the secret to “La Grange”, you know what I’m talking about?
I’m down with that Lennie.
I’m down with that Lennie