This feeling always hits around this time of year, and has for as long as I can remember. I grew up in Maine, where winter sometimes seems to last until June, and we'd all get "Cabin Fever" back then even as a kid. I wasn't the only one.
Maine native Dick Curless hit #5 on the country charts with this, back in 1965. It's about a particularly dangerous stretch of road in northern Maine - Aroostook County, ground zero of Maine potato farming - and the danger faced by the truckers hauling the crop to Boston Town.
Strangely, I don't remember this from when I was a kid. The song must have been pretty big up in Maine, I'd think.
A Tombstone Every Mile (Songwriter: Dan Fulkerson)
All you big and burly men who roll the trucks along
Better listen, you'll be thankful when you hear my song
You have really got it made, if you're haulin' goods
Anyplace on earth but those Hainesville Woods
It's a stretch of road up north in Maine
That's never, ever, ever seen a smile
If they buried all the truckers lost in them Woods
There'd be a tombstone every mile
Count 'em off, there'd be a tombstone every mile
When you're loaded with potatoes and you're headed down
You've gotta drive the Woods to get to Boston town
When it's winter up in Maine, better check it over twice
That Hainesville road is just a ribbon of ice
It's a stretch of road up north in Maine
That's never, ever, ever seen a smile
If they buried all the truckers lost in them Woods
There'd be a tombstone every mile
Count 'em off, there'd be a tombstone every mile
When you're talkin' to a trucker that's been haulin' goods
Down that stretch of road in Maine they call the Hainesville Woods
He'll tell you that dying and goin' down below
Won't be half as bad as driving on that road of ice and snow
It's a stretch of road up north in Maine
That's never, ever, ever seen a smile
If they buried all the truckers lost in them Woods
There'd be a tombstone every mile
Count 'em off, there'd be a tombstone every mile
6 comments:
"Strangely, I don't remember this from when I was a kid"
That is because you are not old enough! It was played while I was at State U. and well known.
It is a long lonely drive still out on "The airline" to this day.
I didn't know I knew this until it was playing. I knew all the words. Weird. I guess they played this a lot when Smokey and the Bandit started all those trucker songs back in the day.
I grew up in West Texas, and songs about anywhere but Texas stood out.
Thanks for the flashback!
I think my family had this song...
...on an 8-track tape of trucking songs that probably came from Radio Shack (I believe "Wolf Creek Pass" and "Phantom 309" were on the same tape)...
...which should give you some idea of how old I am...
...which is why I'm not signing this comment.
I got it on a record album of trucker and CB radio (go ask your parents) back in the 70's. I still have that album and was playing this last month when I hooked up my new stereo. Still a classic.
"I got it on a record album of trucker and CB radio (go ask your parents) back in the 70's."
Okay, Murphy's Law. You can stay on my lawn.
Heh. I love Wolf Creek Pass too. Phantom 309 was kinda creepy.
Post a Comment