Wolf Creek Pass

(bill fries, chip davis)

I's thumbin' through the want ads in the shelby county tribune when this classified advertisement caught my eye. it said, "take imme-di-ate delivery on this '57 chevrolet half-ton pickup tr
Will sell or swap for a hide-a-bed and thirty-five bucks. call one-four-oh, ring two, and ask for bob."

Well, i called bob up on the telephone, he says, "hello, this is bob speakin'." i says "this here the bob got the pickup truck for sale?" he says, "yeah." i says, &
Where are ya?" he says, "fourteen east on county 12, turn right on the one-lane gravel road, you can park in the yard, beware of the dog, wipe your feet off, knock three times, and bri
Ur billfold."

Well, i tooled on east on county 12, turned right on the one-lane gravel road, and i parked in the yard and a german shepherd come out and grabbed onto my leg. then i knocked three times and wip
Feet, the dog let go and the screen door opened and bob come out and says "whaddya want?" i says, "come to see your truck." he says, "follow me. come on, frank." (
Name is frank.)

Well, we all went past the chicken house, through the hog pen, down to the tractor shed, and then wound up in back of the barn in a field of cowpies. and settin' right there in a pool of grease
Half-ton chevy pickup truck with a 1960 license plate, a bumper sticker says "vote for dick" and brillo box full of rusty parts, and bob says "whaddya think?".

Well, i kicked the tires and i got in the seat and set on a petrified apple core and found a bunch of field mice livin' in the glove compartment. he says, "her shaft is bent and her rear en
Ks, you can fix her quick with an oily rag. use a nail as a starter; i lost the key. don't pay no mind to that whirrin' sound. she use a little oil, but outside a' that, she's cherry."

I says, "what'll take?" he says, "what've you got?" i says, "twenty-eight dollars and fifteen cents." he says, "you got a deal. sign here, i'll go get the titl
A can full of gas." i put the nail in the slot and fired 'er up; she coughed and belched up a bunch a' smoke and i backed her right through the hog pen into the yard.

Well, frank jumped in and bit my leg and i beat him off with a crowbar. he jumped on out and the door fell off and the left front tire went flat. i jacked it up and patched the tube and frank to
Piece of my shirt off. then bob come out and called him off and says "you better'd get on out of here."

I went left on the one-lane gravel road, went fourteen west on county 12. took two full quarts of forty-weight oil just to get her to the conoco station. and i pulled up to the regular pump and
Harold sykes and his kid come out. he says, "i've seen better stuff at junkyards and where'd you ever get that truck?"

I says, "that's a long story, harold. i's thumbin' through the want ads in the shelby county tribune when this classified advertisement caught my eye. it said, "take imme-di-ate delive
This '57 chevrolet half-ton pickup truck. will sell or swap for a hide-a-bed and thirty-five bucks..."

(bill fries, chip davis)

Me an' earl was haulin' chickens on a flatbed out of wiggins, and we'd spent all night on the uphill side of thirty-seven miles of hell called wolf creek pass. which is up on the great divide?


We was settin' there suckin' toothpicks, drinkin' nehi and onion soup mix, and i said, "earl, let's mail a card to mother then send them chickens on down the other side. yeah, let's give 'e
Ide."

[chorus]
Wolf creek pass, way up on the great divide
Truckin' on down the other side

Well, earl put down his bottle, mashed his foot down on the throttle, and then a couple'a boobs with a thousand cubes in a nineteen-forty-eight peterbilt screamed to life. we woke up the chicken
R>

Well, we roared up offa that shoulder sprayin' pine cones, rocks, and boulders, and put four hundred head of them rhode island reds and a couple a' burnt-out roosters on the line. look out below
Use here we go!

Well, we commenced to truckin' and them hens commenced to cluckin' and then earl took out a match and scratched his pants and lit up the unused half of a dollar cigar and took a puff. says "
Ain't this purdy up here."

I says, "earl, this hill can spill us. you better slow down or you gonna kill us. just make one mistake and it's the pearly gates for them eight-five crates a' usda-approved cluckers. you w
Hit second?"

[chorus]
Wolf creek pass, way up on the great divide
Truckin' on down the other side

Well, earl grabbed on the shifter and he stabbed her into fifth gear and then the chromium-plated, fully-illuminated genuine accessory shift knob come right off in his hand. i says, "you wa
Crew that thing back on, earl?"

He was tryin' to thread it on there when the fire fell off a' his cigar and dropped on down, sorta rolled around, and then lit in the cuff of earl's pants and burned a hole in his sock. yeah, so
Et him right on fire.

I looked on outta the window and i started countin' phone poles, goin' by at the rate of four to the seventh power. well i put two and two together, and added twelve and carried five; come up wi
Enty-two thousand telephone poles an hour.

I looked at earl and his eyes was wide, his lip was curled, and his leg was fried. and his hand was froze to the wheel like a tongue to a sled in the middle of a blizzard. i says, "earl, i'
The type to complain; but the time has come for me to explain that if you don't apply some brake real soon, they're gonna have to pick us up with a stick and a spoon."

Well, earl rared back, and cocked his leg, stepped as down as hard as he could on the brake, and the pedal went clear to the floor and stayed there, right there on the floor. he said it was sort
E steppin' on a plum.

Well, from there on down it just wasn't real purdy: it was hairpin county and switchback city. one of 'em looked like a can full'a worms; another one looked like malaria germs. right in the midd
The whole damn show was a real nice tunnel, now wouldn't you know?

Sign says clearance to the twelve-foot line, but the chickens was stacked to thirteen-nine. well we shot that tunnel at a hundred-and-ten, like gas through a funnel and eggs through a hen, and w
K that top row of chickens off slicker than scum off a lousiana swamp. went down and around and around and down 'til we run outta ground at the edge of town. bashed into the side of the feed sto
In downtown pagosa springs.

[chorus]
Wolf creek pass, way up on the great divide
Truckin' on down the other side
Wolf creek pass, way up on the great divide
Truckin' on down the other side

(bill fries, chip davis)

She was mud and sand and concrete
Mixed with water made a' tears
From the rivers runnin' down the great divide
She was three thousand miles
Of rockin', rollin' highway
A million mem'ries long and two lanes wide

Far across the wide missouri
To the ol' wyomin' line
From the jersey shore to san francisco bay
She was known to all the truckers
As the mighty lincoln highway
But to me, she's still old 30 all the way

Now the interstate goes screamin' through the backyard of her life
But it just don't send those shivers down my spine
So before i take that exit
To the highway in the sky
I'm gonna take old 30 one more time

She was radiators boilin'
In the burnin' summer sun
And a blizzard blowin' wild across the plains
She was tumbleweeds a-rollin'
In the gentle winds of fall
And the lights of old grand island in the rain

She was mud and sand and concrete
Mixed with water made a' tears
From the rivers runnin' down the great divide
She was three thousand miles
Of rockin', rollin' highway
A million mem'ries long and two lanes wide

Now the interstate goes screamin' through the backyard of her life
But it just don't send those shivers down my spine
So before i take that exit
To the highway in the sky
I'm gonna take old 30 one more time

One more time

When rivers ran blue up on the mountain
And rivers ran green out on the plain
When the river ran red in glenwood canyon
It was only a matter of time

Then rivers ran gold up on the mountain
And rivers ran wild out on the plain
And the river ran free through glenwood canyon
And it was only a matter of time

And the miners came and they took the gold and the people staked a claim
And the builders came and they made a dam and the people came to play
And the 'dozers came and they built a road and the people found a way
Through glenwood canyon

Now rivers run grey up on the mountain
And rivers brown out on the plain
And the river runs red through glenwood canyon
But it's only a matter of time

(bill fries, chip davis)

[a ghostly chorus]
Night rider

Well, a-truckin' on the night line, quarter past five
Tryin' to get my rig an' me to 'frisco alive
Fog lights up tight, a-givin' me the creeps
Just a winnemucca trucka with a load a' black sheep

[a ghostly chorus]
Night rider

I got a belly full a' jelly and head full a' pain
Bennies spinnin' spider webs, a-messin' my brain
Tryin' ta get myself together with a shot a' black c
What i really oughta get me is an hour a' zs

[chorus, but not ghostly]
Night rider, night rider, losin' your mind
Look at those lights 'til you think you've gone blind
Night rider, night rider, losin' your mind
Look at those lights, 'til you've gone blind

Well, alabammy mammy got a spell on my life
Kansas city kitty cut my heart out tonight
I lost a c-note in reno off a' keno and craps
And now smokey's on the overpass a-settin' his traps
White lines lasers burnin' holes in my eyes
Feel like i'm hypnotized, think i'm gonna die
Interstate 80, gonna get me no sleep
Just a-winkin' and a-blinkin' with a stinkin' load a' sheep

[chorus]
Night rider, night rider, losin' your mind
Look at those lights 'til you think you've gone blind
Night rider, night rider, losin' your mind
Look at those lights, 'til you've gone blind

[a ghostly chorus]
Night rider

[ghostly, but it's not the chorus]
Ba ba black sheep, have you any wool?
Yes sah, yes sah, three bags full
One for my master, and one for my dame
And one for jimmy bowen who lives in l.a.


[chorus]
Night rider, night rider, losin' your mind (yeah)
Look at those lights 'til you think you've gone blind

[psychotic cackling here. he's losin' it.]

Night rider, night rider, losin' your mind
Look at those lights 'til you think you've gone blind
Night rider, night rider, losin' your mind
Look at those lights 'til you think you've gone blind

[fade out]
Night rider, night rider, losin' your mind
Look at those lights 'til you think you've gone blind
Night rider, night rider, losin' your mind
Look at those lights 'til you think you've gone blind
Night rider, night rider, losin' your mind
Look at those lights 'til you think you've gone blind
Night rider, night rider, losin' your mind
Look at those lights 'til you think you've gone blind
Night rider, night rider, losin' your mind
Look at those lights 'til you think you've gone blind