From the recording Both Sides Of The River
PAINTED DESERT
“Don’t forget to stop and get your kicks!”
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
In recent years, I frequently have driven I-40 and various other parts of the historic Route 66 traveling between Arizona and Colorado, occasionally east into Texas and Oklahoma or west to California. Such an iconic part of our heritage lies there, much of it now covered with graffiti, decaying back into the desert, often just feet from the Interstate. Vanishing ghosts.
So much of current American life and commerce passes along that way daily, and has for generations. This song is me, driving on I-40, reminding myself that someday, like little-kid me when my parents were driving, I will once again want more than anything to stop at every roadside attraction, buy a rubber tomahawk and a scorpion sucker and enjoy the true American West! I really will! And no one will stop me!
But not now. I have some other place to go.
Ed Skibbe, Cave Creek
August 2023
CREDITS
Ed Skibbe: acoustic guitar, electric piano, synth, baritone guitar, lead vocal
Spencer Pyne: bass, synth
Brian McClure: drums
(The Bombay Beach Boys) Tony Paiotti, Kevin Causey, Tim Brady, Glade F. Wilson: backing vocals
NOTES
I love “travelog” songs. This is sort of a metamodern homage to Bobby (and Cynthia–unfairly uncredited) Troup’s “Route 66.” What a trip we’ve all taken since 1959! This one makes me happy. We recorded the basic tracks (bass, drums, reference guitar-vocal) in Colorado. A few days later, we recorded the lead vocal in Colorado. I remember having horrible allergies and being terribly hoarse. Tequila is apparently nature’s perfect pharmaceutical. LOL I think we used one of the original reference acoustic guitar tracks. I may have re-done part of it in Arizona. I tracked piano, a synth part, and the baritone guitar in Arizona. Later, we recorded all the Bombay Beach Boys individually in Arizona. Did those guys kill it or what? Cave Creek rocks. Mixing and editing in Colorado.
Like so many songs on Wood & Wires and Both Sides of the River, I have cast aside all the “rules” and limitations from my long years in the commercial bowels of American popular music. I let this one roll–long intro, long instrumental break in the middle. The ongoing cycles before the bridge are as long as the drive through 100 miles of desert to the next rest area. None of those gutted, trimmed, gelded, shrink-wrapped three-minute pop confections for us! We make music for people with long attention spans.
Lyrics
PAINTED DESERT (Skibbe)
© 2019, Coyote Tongue Music (ASCAP)
I’ve never been to Meteor Crater
Heaven fell to earth there, it’s a sight to see
Maybe I’ll get there sooner or later
Or maybe it’s just not meant to be
Winslow has a statue of a girl my lord
I always have some other place to go
So I never stop in Winslow, but I’ll take their word
It’s a monument to rock n roll
It’s getting dark Woah woah
The road goes on Woah woah
The times are hard
And the night is long long long
I’ll drive through Woah woah
This desert in my heart Woah woah
‘Til I find you
Wherever you are
I never bought a knife at Knife City
I stopped one time ‘cause looking is free
Those gleaming rows of steel, they shine so pretty
But a reservation blade is not for me
I don’t need their fireworks or their cigarettes
I won’t pull the handle of their slot machine
They can keep that neon teepee and that damned T-Rex
I’ll keep the Painted Desert for my memory
It’s getting dark Woah woah
The road goes on Woah woah
The times are hard
And the night is long long long
I’ll drive through Woah woah
This desert in my heart Woah woah
‘Til I find you
Wherever you are
Darlin’ do you ever think of me?
Darlin’ do you ever think of me?
It’s getting dark Woah woah
The road goes on Woah woah
The times are hard
And the night is long long long
I’ll drive through Woah woah
This desert in my heart Woah woah
‘Til I find you
Wherever you are
Wherever you are
Wherever you are
Wherever you are