mundane song from my past
I once took a bus trip to Dallas (I think back in '92) from SF with my good friend Albert. A few months later, I believe, we wrote a song to commemorate the journey. I think it's pretty much all about what food (usually processed, fast, or from some kind of machine) we ate. Here are the lyrics to the musical/poetic log of our journey, "Desert Angels":
Chorus:
desert angels on a greyhound bus
oh the wonders we would see
san francisco dallas ride with us
might be cheap but it sure ain't free
said it might be cheap but it sure ain't free
1
midnight ride to l.a.
the ride was smooth and the talk was gay
headed east on highway ten
off to places we had never been
stopped in blythe at mickey d's
for a coffee with some sugar please
dozing off in the desert dawn
and phoenix was the next big town
2
stuck at stuckey's in the benson heat
damn that pecan log was good to eat
off to lordsburg we did ride
for a big mac coke and a side of fries
eastbound freeway in the late afternoon sun
who could have foreseen the end of our fun
stopped in old el paso and the bus it would take us
to that dreadful hamlet we've come to know as pecos
3
cursed be that coffee machine
that stole our change and spewed caffeine
a change of clothes and some mighty scowls
and a homesick grumbling from our bowels
woe are we oh the demons that vex us
will we ever make it to dallas texas
fear not for greyhound guarantees
leave the driving to us if you please
Thanks to Albert for preserving -- and sending -- these lyrics.
Chorus:
desert angels on a greyhound bus
oh the wonders we would see
san francisco dallas ride with us
might be cheap but it sure ain't free
said it might be cheap but it sure ain't free
1
midnight ride to l.a.
the ride was smooth and the talk was gay
headed east on highway ten
off to places we had never been
stopped in blythe at mickey d's
for a coffee with some sugar please
dozing off in the desert dawn
and phoenix was the next big town
2
stuck at stuckey's in the benson heat
damn that pecan log was good to eat
off to lordsburg we did ride
for a big mac coke and a side of fries
eastbound freeway in the late afternoon sun
who could have foreseen the end of our fun
stopped in old el paso and the bus it would take us
to that dreadful hamlet we've come to know as pecos
3
cursed be that coffee machine
that stole our change and spewed caffeine
a change of clothes and some mighty scowls
and a homesick grumbling from our bowels
woe are we oh the demons that vex us
will we ever make it to dallas texas
fear not for greyhound guarantees
leave the driving to us if you please
Thanks to Albert for preserving -- and sending -- these lyrics.
posted by Mark Meritt at 11:06 AM
12 Comments:
Brings back many memories... however, I have to take exception to one thing. While the song covers many mundane elements of the trip, most notably where we stopped and what we ate - I would hardly characterize the song itself as mundane - I think it's a sublime and transcendant commentary on where we were in our lives at that point.
Also, maybe we should send this to Greyhound. The trip itself as detailed in the song is a slow descent into fast food and vending machine madness, and yet it's quite an optimistic recommendation for Greyhound services.
How much did that trip cost us? Like just over $100 each roundtrip? You can't beat that.
As a young man I spent a lot of time
on Greyhounds in search of romance. At the time I was wearing a blue suede jacket.
What I remember best is the stops
at 3 A.M. where you got off the bus
for five minutes in Lodi and
smoked an unfliltered Camel in the dark while feeling returned slowly to your numb bottom. Then you got back on the hound.
Albert,
You are right. The trip was sublime in its own right. Can there be something sublime in standing outside a Stuckey's in 100 degree heat, partaking of a mini pecan log? I think so. Take that, Edmund Burke and Immanuel Kant.
Gary, smoking as a group ritual took on a new meaning for so many hound travellers. Same goes for Amtrak. There is something very Romantic -- in a very American sense, of course -- about Greyhound and Amtrak travel.
Albert and I, however, were searching less for romance and more for a McDonald's serving more than its breakfast menu. How dashed were my hopes in Blythe (I believe) when I couldn't get a Big Mac at 5am.
I have to say I prefer McDonalds' breakfast menu.
And, my recollection of the Stuckeys incident is that we bought the pecan log but ate it back on the bus.
Speaking of McDonalds, one enduring memory - there were a couple of Hispanic girls in the seat in front of us on the LA - El Paso leg, which departed about midnight. I woke up to the sun cresting over the Arizona desert - one of the girls woke up around the same time, turned around, and smiled at me. Later in the day, we stopped at a McDonalds - the girls went into the bathroom and washed their hair!
One of you, Albert or Mark, please post one of the busdriver's jokes. I always try to remember them and I can't.
Dad...you smoked cigarettes??
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PS
Albert, you may not know this, but lines from this song have made it into Mark's and my daily parlance. For example, if we enjoy a particularly good food item, one of us often says, "Man, that pecan log sure was good to eat" (even if it wasn't a pecan log--believe me, it usually isn't). Oh, except now I realize the correct lyric is *Damn* that pecan log sure was good to eat... I think we alternated between "Man" and "Damn," never sure which was correct.
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Oh dear...these lyrics are so funny to me, but I'm not quite sure why. On an aesthetic note, do you, the authors, feel the song delivers on the tantalizing promise of the first verse: "said it might be cheap but it sure ain't free"? What price do the two Greyhound-bus-takers ultimately pay?
Bus Driver Joke #1 - regarding the sound a frog makes, I'll leave this one for Mark, I can't tell it very well.
Bus Driver Joke #2: A barber was working in his shop when a man poked his head through the door. The man asked how many people were in front of him, then left - but never returned for his haircut. This happens several more times, always the same. Curious, the barber asks his little boy to tail the man one day - when the boy comes back to the shop, the barber asks - where did the man go?! "He went to our house!"
I believe the correct line is "Damn, that pecan log was good to eat..."
You would have to ask Mark about the emotional and psychic cost of the trip. To be quite serious, we were both at quite a crossroads, having just graduated from college. I remember we had some very deep conversations, many of which revolved around the utter meaninglessness of life - during the trip (the song only covers the outbound half) - and then in Dallas and on the return trip too - for example, we talked at What-a-burger when we got stiffed for Matt & Margery's Last Date.
There were other costs - I ruined a shirt in Pecos. And bought several pairs of headphones which malfunctioned. And I think upon arrival in TX were taken for a ride by a taxi driver.
I think the song gently hints at some of these deeper themes. There is this sense of foreboding as we near Dallas, even as Mark and I were facing an uncertain future - however, I love the fact that the song ends on an optimistic note. I don't know that Mark would have the same interpretation, but the "Fear not..." line could even be a word of assurance from God = Greyhound - i.e., God being in control while we are fixated on mundane matters; also ref. the title of the song, Desert Angels and the "oh the demons that vex us" line.
Ironically of course - I DID end up living in Dallas for 3 years, so this song is eeriely prescient.
Also, I can't believe Mark beat me in Yahtzee on his final roll.
And one last bit of trivia on this song - it was written mostly at a Denny's in Serramonte.
Hopefully I won't get Mark in trouble for hosting Jonathan Richman lyrics...if the lawyers come a-knockin', just send 'em to me.
YOU'RE CRAZY FOR TAKING THE BUS
Well, a welfare gal and her drunk galoot
And no one wearing a three-piece suit.
You meet folks this way you just don't see while flyin'
So you take the plane but I'll take the bus this time.
Well, welfare gal and her drunken cuss
And Pepsi cans rolling around the bus
That newspaper's a Grit and you've got slime
So you take the plane but I'll take the bus this time
Where it's Salt Lake City, everybody off
Salt Lake City, everybody off
With Elko, Wells and Reno down the line
So you take the plane but I'll take the bus this time
But Jonathan... You're crazy for taking the bus
Well, I'm crazy, so what's the fuss
Two whole days on that stinking bus
Yes and I sleep fine
So you take the plane, I'll take the bus this time.
Go Donnie, tell 'em.
Look at it this way... They don't want my name, and I don't want their baggage claim
My guitar is seated right where I am
So you take the plane but I'll take the bus this time.
Well you got the old fat guy in his old tank top
The Wendover casino stop
And then of course Winnemucca and Wells and Anaheim
So you take the plane and I'll take the bus this time.
And it's Salt Lake City, everybody off
Salt Lake City, everybody off
With Elko Wells and Reno down the line
So you take the plane, I'll take the bus this time
But Jonathan... You're crazy for taking the bus
Well, I'm crazy, so what's the fuss
Two whole days on that stinking bus
Yeah and I sleep fine
So you take the plane but I'll take the bus this time.
Michael,
I love what I know of Jonathan Richman, and I love the bus song! Thanks so much for posting it. Maybe we can also beging talking about Amtrak!!!
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