A big song to kick off Side Two. I had the music done a year before I had the final lyrics for this one. I was at a company function and I was chatting with a long-distance truck driver who was married to a colleague. I peppered him with questions about his routes and what kind of things he hauled. And I was intrigued that theirs was a marriage that seemed to work really well despite his weekly absences. The lyrics came very easy after that great conversation. I always wanted to do a ‘big’ song like this, and like to imagine the stadium crowd getting whipped up as the band builds to the finish. I am very much channeling the tail end of FM’s ‘One O’clock Tomorrow’ as I reach the final moments. The tail end of that song still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
Lyrics
Stopped to spend the night at the Iowa-80 / I killed the engine and pulled the blind / I close my eyes but I’m still staring down the highway at the miles ahead to put behind / Thoughts of home spinning the mind / Did two hundred thousand miles since this time last year / I gave up counting the days I’m gone / The GPS keeps track of everywhere I’m heading on my blacktop marathon / Except for when I’m travelling on / The Road to You / It’s all that keeps me going / The Road to You / The one I know by heart / Where I’ve been goin’ to is all behind me now / Seven days high-miling and I’m overdue / Thank God, I’m driving down the Road to You / I know this life we share is miles from perfection / A crazy love where less is more / Well any bond that stretches far as wheels can travel and greet you smiling at the door / Is why I’m always turning for the Road to You etc / There’s something right about a highway life addiction / The asphalt ribbon to which I’m drawn / I can’t explain but I'm happy when in motion / It’s a diesel man’s phenomenon / The only cure is travelling on the Road to You etc