I wrote most of this song on the piano, when I lived along the river on Pitt Street in New Orleans' Black Pearl Neighborhood. Just around the corner from the church where Mahalia Jackson first sang.
The pickup truck in question was my '88 toyota with well over 200,000 miles on it. It never died, I left it with my friend Tyronne, and he watched it wash away during Hurricane Katrina. All he could do was laugh. The next summer I returned and helped gut some house for friend of his and captured that experience in the second half of the song.
lyrics
On my way out to New Orleans East,
I start to picture her again,
It's rainin' outside and it's rainin' down inside,
I'm afraid of what I left behind.
Fuel filter's out on my pickup truck,
Coast down the hills and then I sputter up,
Wipers shot so the windshield streaks,
This old heap of junk has got all kinds of squeaks,
Back at my penthouse by the railroad tracks,
I've still got you on my mind,
Rest my feet up on the countertop,
I lay my hammer by my side,
When we split I thought I'd laugh again,
I just ended up cryin'
I know I was wrong and I want you back again,
Won't you give me one more try?
....
On my way out to New Orleans East,
Everything I know is gone,
Above the front door lies the water line,
Because the levees were not strong,
Back in the city your still by my side,
But our memories are stained,
We left the town we love and there's no goin' back,
Recollections rearranged.
Split leather gloves and a mildew mask,
Birthday presents never been unwrapped,
To the curb go all your auntie's knick knacks,
Picked up by city workers with their rakes and bobcats.
When we split I thought I'd laugh again,
But now I find myself cryin'
We left the town we love and there's no goin back,
Long to see her one more time,
On my way,
On my way,
On my way out to New Orleans
East.
credits
from Egyptland,
released August 1, 2009
Ted Hefko - vocals, piano, guitar, synth bass
Jason Ewald - rhythm guitar, drum sounds
Ted Hefko and The ThousandairesNew Orleans, Louisiana
Ted Hefko & The Thousandaires stir up an intoxicating brew of the profound and the profane, of virtue and vice and most
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