1 (edited by TIGLJK 2020-07-02 14:08:58)

Topic: new song - Changed the title to Lonesome Highway

I was driving down the road yesterday and passed a couple of tractor trailers. As I looked at the drivers - it seemed to me they appeared sad and lonely - I could be completely wrong ! smile
This morning I was thinking about it and came up with this song.

Coming Into Memphis  By Jim Kenyon


Verse 1




.




[G]He’s just a cross country trucker, and he’s [C]hauling another [G]load


[G]Yeah, an all night trucker, driving [C]down solitary [G]roads


He’s been [C]knocking down the miles [G]one by one


all [C] by himself ‘til this[G]trip is done


with his [Am] memories of love dying [C]against the fading [G] sun


.




Verse 2




.




[G] He’s just a troubled trucker on the [C] edge of losing con[G]trol


[G] yeah, he’s a lonely trucker, with his [C]passion drifting from his [G] soul


Driving [C] through endless nights that [G]seem too long


And [C] listening for comfort in a [G]country song


While he [Am]wonders how [C]things ever got this [G]wrong




.




Chorus


.


Well now he’s [Em]coming into Memphis, it’s [C] ’bout the break of [G]dawn


he's[Em] heading back to Memphis but he [C]knows she’ll be [D]gone


just [Em]a few more miles and [C] he’ll be reaching [G]home


and like that [D]deserted,lonesome [C]highway, he’ll be a[G]lone







Verse 3




.




[G]Thinking about his woman who [C]left him for another [G] man


[G]Yeah she broke his heart as [C]only a woman [G]can


while he [C] rambled down those [G]friendless roads,


She got[C]tired of waiting for [G]him to come home


She [C]found her lovin’ and[G] she's happy now


and he [Am] wishes he could go [C] back and change it some [G]how




.




Chorus


.


Well now he’s [Em]coming into Memphis, it’s [C] ’bout the break of [G]dawn


he's[Em] heading back to Memphis but he [C]knows she’ll be [D]gone


just [Em]a few more miles and [C] he’ll be reaching [G]home


and like that [D]deserted,lonesome [C]highway, he’ll be a[G]lone




.


slower


like that [D]deserted,lonesome [C]highway, he’ll be a[G]lone


like that [D]deserted,lonesome [C]highway, he’ll be a[G]lone


yea,like that [D]deserted,lonesome [C]highway, he’ll be a[G]lone




 


Your vision is not limited by what your eye can see, but what your mind can imagine.
Make your life count, and the world will be a better place because you tried.

"Use the talents you possess, for the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except only the the best." - Henry Van Dyke

Re: new song - Changed the title to Lonesome Highway

I also wrote it using blues format.  That sounds good too. smile     

Your vision is not limited by what your eye can see, but what your mind can imagine.
Make your life count, and the world will be a better place because you tried.

"Use the talents you possess, for the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except only the the best." - Henry Van Dyke

Re: new song - Changed the title to Lonesome Highway

Hey Jim - I like it and think this will sound great. I like that you used the blues style too, a bit different from your other songs. I'll give it a try as soon as I get off work, but I'm looking forward to hearing how you play it as well.     

J  E  T  S
...and yet a Washington Commanders fan (unless they change their name again) ...long story...HTT...C

Re: new song - Changed the title to Lonesome Highway

jim, it's a little known fact but many years ago i was one of those truckers, just like my dad before me. i then got a job as a salesman selling to shops and pubs and such like. i must be honest i was never sad or miserable, especially on hot summer days at seaside resorts!!!

i like your song very much, as Jeff says it's a departure for you, but you are allowing your imagination to flow and it's finding great story lines from basically looking at some miserable so and so's face. let us know when you've posted the recording.     

Ask not what Chordie can do for you, but what you can do for Chordie.

5 (edited by Peatle Jville 2020-06-30 11:37:39)

Re: new song - Changed the title to Lonesome Highway

Jim I love the lyrics reading them I could hear a Johnny Cash voice going through my head singing your song. About forty years back in the late 70s I did a little bit of truck driving in Australia.  Many of the interstate drivers I met at truck stops  had lost girlfriends and wife's due to  the pressures of the job. I use to play a lot of Willie Nelson and Johnny cash type  tapes at night to help keep me awake when driving. Your song brought back some of the those truck driving memories to me. I cant wait to hear a recording of it.

Re: new song - Changed the title to Lonesome Highway

Thank you fellas !  Here is a link to it - I did a quick version and put it on sound cloud

https://soundcloud.com/tigljk/coming-into-memphis     

Your vision is not limited by what your eye can see, but what your mind can imagine.
Make your life count, and the world will be a better place because you tried.

"Use the talents you possess, for the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except only the the best." - Henry Van Dyke

Re: new song - Changed the title to Lonesome Highway

You have a unique sound that is very nice to listen to and wish you would do more.     

Music is what feelings sound like.
Music is life, that why our hearts have beats.

8 (edited by TIGLJK 2020-07-01 12:17:00)

Re: new song - Changed the title to Lonesome Highway

Thanks CG -  you are kind.

After listening to this a few times -   I decided to change the title to Lonesome Highway.
Peatle-  Like Phill said - there is  probably only a small percentage of the drivers that fall into the category of the driver I wrote about.
My father in law was a trucker his whole life and loved it - he can remember the names of of all the roads he traveled as he tells many amazing stories.  However, the look on the drivers I saw weren't happy faces - so I just made up a reason for it.  smile

Thanks for the comments.   I really wish I could sing and play better - or had better means of recording than a computer microphone.

Everyone stay healthy and let's beat this pandemic!!

Jim

Your vision is not limited by what your eye can see, but what your mind can imagine.
Make your life count, and the world will be a better place because you tried.

"Use the talents you possess, for the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except only the the best." - Henry Van Dyke

Re: new song - Changed the title to Lonesome Highway

Made a few lyric changes     

Your vision is not limited by what your eye can see, but what your mind can imagine.
Make your life count, and the world will be a better place because you tried.

"Use the talents you possess, for the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except only the the best." - Henry Van Dyke

Re: new song - Changed the title to Lonesome Highway

I have to say, I read it as a cross between John Denvers  Toledo Ohio and Willy.  I like it also.  just bought a new reverb, when it gets here I am gonna play with this song.     

“Find your own sound.  Dont be a second rateYngwie Malmsteen be a first rate you”

– George Lynch 2013 (Dokken, Lynchmob, KXM, Tooth & Nail etc....)