Lost Highway

May 10, 2011 • Nick Payne

A man gets in his car and drives off into the sunset leaving behind a failed relationship. Is he heading towards a new start or something else?

This song started off after listening to Townes Van Zandt for about a week. Playing on Capo 3 it uses a pretty common Am, Dm, E7 progression for the verse. The chorus then uses the major equivalents - C, F and G.

After writing this song I was bugged by a feeling that I'd inadvertantly lifted the melody from another song. After a couple of hours flicking through CDs I found not one, but two songs that used the melody - Wayfaring Stranger and Kasey Chamber's I Still Pray. A little fiddling with the melody and I was able to change it enough to give it its own unique voice, yet still retain the ethos of the aforementioned tracks. I completely forgot about the link to I Still Pray until one day when Jess Chalker told me it reminded her of that song.

Lost Highway
Payne/Taylor

Sun comes up across the burning plain
As yesterday slowly fades away
The night is gone day is almost here
I'll leave that girl way behind
Heading down the road don't know what I'll find
I'm heading down that lost highway

Gonna leave those days behind me
Gonna live from day to day
Gonna ride off into glory
As I travel the lost highway

Gonna right a note to leave behind
All about my life what I did find
About my life and the way it ran
Its time say my last goodbyes
Heading down the road towards the light
I'm heading down the lost highway

Darling don't you know
You don't have to be
All alone in this life
You're someone to me

The version we recorded on Dear Orphans featured the following musicians. Many thanks go out to all.

Nick - Vocals, acoustic guitar 
Lyn - Vocals, acoustic guitar 
Mike - Pedal Steel, mariachi bass 
Richard Galluzzi - Clawhammer style banjo 
Michael Roberts - Piano accordian
Karl Broadie - Tambourine, stomp