An Appreciation of Eric Andersen

As part of my job, I travel from Clovis to Roswell and Artesia, NM almost every Thursday. It's about 120 miles each way, 160 when I go to Artesia. So it's a good road trip for one day.

Now US Route 70 is 4 lanes with a 70MPH speed limit. It bisects a number of ranches and oil fields. If I pass a half dozen cars, that's a lot. It's pretty empty space--high plains, cattle, deer, oil wells. It parallels railroad tracks and honestly there's more trains than cars.

So I usually have my Ipod loaded and ready. Now there's the usual "road songs"--"Born to Run" by Bruce is one of my favorites, along with some good old honk from Lynyrd Skynrd.

But for evoking the loneliness of the road, Eric Andersen has no equal. I guess his most well-known song is "Thirsty Boots"--"So take off your thirsty boots and stay for awhile/Your feet are hot and weary from a dusty mile/And maybe I can make you laugh/Maybe I can try/I'm just looking for the evening/The morning in your eyes." For me, however, it's his first album, "Today is the Highway", which really made an impression on me. I first saw a poster in a coffee-house in Bryn Mawr, PA for an appearance by this artist back in 1966 when I was in college in that area. I don't recall if we made the show but I must have heard some of his music because I went out and bought this record. (I now have the cd and all of it is on my computer as well.)

I wonder what Eric would have written if he saw the trains as they are presently constituted. One of my favorites on this album is "Dusty Boxcar Wall"--"I'm going away my darling/I'm gonna leave you pretty girl/ A train pass you by while you lay sleepin'/I'll write you a letter on a dusty boxcar wall." Now most of the freight trains around here, and there's a ton since Clovis was founded as a freight depot and major terminal on the southern branch of the old Santa Fe railroad, are container cars. I guess the proper term is "inter modal transport." Just seems pretty hard to hitch a ride on one of them---those containers are sealed, unlike the old box cars.

But the title song really expresses the weariness of the traveler heading home:

"Do you see my face in the rain that's fallin' freely?/Do you hear my voice in the whisperin' in the trees?/ Do you taste my love in a glass of wine?/Do you touch your heart and feel the beat of mine?/Along this darkened roadway your love will always shine/For today is the highway and tomorrow is the time."

I loved this song on the train going from Philly to NYC to see my girlfriend back home when I was in college and first heard it and I think I appreciate it even more traveling US 70 East towards home now.