Saturday, February 14, 2004

Tolono Speaking of the "triangle of wonder" there's an actual song on an actual record about an actual place there: "Tolono," by Utah Phillips. It's a melancholy train song, but you can tell (I think) that he really went through there. "I got off at Tolono, just below Champaign, A flag stop on the edge of yesterday. The whistle blew a song, I whispered so long, And waved my hand and slowly walked away. "No round-trip ticket, you're on the final run This Cannonball is never coming back. Tomorrow she'll just be another memory And an echo down a rusty railroad track." Of the town itself, it can be reported that the public library owns one book by Al Franken ("Why Not Me?") and one recording of that book, and not a single volume by Bill O'Reilly. So much for those stereotypes about what's going on in The Heartland. 11:59:51 PM    comment []

Versions For no particular reason, other than I saw Tom Waits's name on my Rhapsody (scaredy-cat legal online music) list: I remember hearing a country song/story called "Big Joe and Phantom 309" (en Español "Big Joe y Fantasma 309") sometime in the '70s. Hated it. Don't know who was doing it -- probably Red Sovine, who wrote it -- but I hated it. There was something kind of smug and obvious in the story-telling. Then sometime in the late 1980s, my brother John put on a record that Kate had in her collection but I hadn't listened to. Tom Waits, "Nighthawks at the Diner," which was not a new album, with a live version of the same number. Wow, what a great track. Yeah, he hams it up. Still, he makes the song his own enough that you believe it really is his story. "...Yeah, it was just about that time that the lights of an ol' semi topped the hill You should've seen me smile when I heard them air brakes come on Yeah, and I climbed up into that cab where I knew it'd be warm At the wheel... well, at the wheel sat a big man And I'd have to say he must've weighed two ten As he stuck out a big hand and he said with a grin 'Big Joe's the name, and this here rig's called Phantom 309' "Well, I asked him why he called his rig such a name And you know, he turned to me and said ' Why son, don't you know this here rig'll be puttin' 'em all to shame Nah, there ain't a driver No, there ain't a driver on this or any other line for that matter that... That's seen nothin' but the taillights of Big Joe and Phantom 309' So we rode and we talked the better part of the night And I told my stories and Joe told his And I smoked up all his Viceroys as we rolled along Pushed her ahead with 10 forward gears Man, that dashboard was lit like the old Madam La Rue pinball Serious semi truck. ..." 12:01:51 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2004 Dan Brekke.