Great Americana Opening Verses
A distinguishing feature of Americana Music is the narrative. For the most part, Americana songwriters will be telling a good story. It may document reality, even history, but for the most part it will be just good old-fashioned fiction – set to music. And as in any story, writers like to capture the attention of listeners in the opening verse or stanza.
Crossroads has chosen 30 verses or stanzas which reflect the best openings to wonderful Americana songs. A single songwriter is restricted to three songs.
Vigil Caine is the name, and I served on the Danville train
’Til Stoneman’s cavalry came and tore up the tracks again
In the winter of ’65, we were hungry, just barely alive
By May the tenth, Richmond had fell, it’s a time I remember all so well
Robbie Robertson – The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
Hot chilli peppers in the blistering sun
Dust on my face and my cape
Me and Magdalena on the run
This time I think we shall escape
Sold my guitar to the baker's son
For a few crumbs and a place to hide
But I can get another one
And I'll play for Magdalena as we ride
​
Bob Dylan/Jacques Levy - Romance in Durango
Well my name's John Lee Pettimore
Same as my daddy and his daddy before
You hardly ever saw Grandaddy down here
He only come to town about twice a year
He'd buy a hundred pounds of yeast and some copper line
Everybody knew that he made moonshine
Now the revenue man wanted Grandaddy bad
He headed up the holler with everything he had
It's before my time but I've been told
He never come back from Copperhead Road
Steve Earle – Copperhead Road
I am an old woman named after my mother
My old man is another child that's grown old
If dreams were lightning, thunder were desire
This old house would have burnt down a long time ago
John Prine - Angel from Montgomery
They're selling postcards of the hanging, they're painting the passports brown
The beauty parlor is filled with sailors, the circus is in town
Here comes the blind commissioner, they've got him in a trance
One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker, the other is in his pants
And the riot squad they're restless, they need somewhere to go
As Lady and I look out tonight, from Desolation Row
Bob Dylan - Desolation Row
Living on the road, my friend
Was gonna keep you free and clean
Now you wear your skin like iron
Your breath's as hard as kerosene
You weren't your momma's only boy
But her favourite one, it seems
She began to cry when you said goodbye
And sank into your dreams
Townes Van Zandt – Pancho and Lefty
Screamin’ in a mic, playin’ a Strat through a Vox AC-30
Gives a troublesome back and a ringin’ in ears
My last band covered the Clash, the Kinks and the Replacements
Seems my soul is as misspent as my years
Now I got a Princeton reverb, it’s in an old Anvil case
It’s in the back of a Ford Econoline
It’s a 6-hour drive to Austin and the Continental Club
I got to change the strings on my ES-335
​
Ray Wylie Hubbard - Tell The Devil I’m Getting There As Fast As I Can
In South Carolina there are many tall pines
I remember the oak trees that we used to climb
But now when I’m lonesome I always pretend
That I’m getting the feel of hickory wind
Gram Parsons/Bob Buchanan - Hickory Wind
Rita was sixteen years
Hazel Eyes and chestnut hair
She made the Woolworth counter shine
And Eddie was a sweet romancer
And a darn good dancer
And they waltzed the aisles of the five and dime
​
Nanci Griffth - Love at the Five and Dime
He was standing by the highway
With a sign that just said “mother”
When he heard a driver comin’
‘Bout a half a mile away
Then he held the sign up higher
Where no decent soul could miss it
It was ten degrees or colder
Down by Boulder Dam that day
​
Gordon Lightfoot - Ten Degrees and Getting Colder
A canvas covered cabin in a crowded labor camp
Stand out in this memory I revive
My daddy raised a family there
With two hard working hands
And tried to feed my mama’s hungry eyes
​
Merle Haggard – Mam’s Hungry Eyes
You come home late and you come home early
You come on big when you're feeling small
You come home straight and you come home curly
Sometimes you don't come home at all
So what in the world's come over you
And what in heaven's name have you done
You've broken the speed of the sound of loneliness
You're out there running just to be on the run
​
John Prine - Sound of the Speed of Loneliness
Strap them kids in
Give ‘em a little bit of vodka in a cherry coke
We’re going to Oklahoma to the family reunion for the first time in years
It’s up at Uncle Slayton’s cause he’s getting on in years
You know he no longer travels but he’s still pretty spry
He’s not much on talking and he’s just too mean to die
​
James McMurtry - Choctaw Bingo
It's Christmastime in Washington
The Democrats rehearsed
Gettin' into gear for four more years
Things not gettin' worse
Republicans drink whiskey neat
And thanked their lucky stars
They said, "He cannot seek another term
They'll be no more FDRs"
​
Steve Earle - Christmas in Washington
I saw her standin’ on her front lawn
Just a twirlin’ her baton
Me and her went for a ride sir
And ten innocent people died
​
Bruce Springsteen – Nebraska
I pulled into Nazareth, was feeling 'bout half past dead
I just need some place where I can lay my head
Hey, mister, can you tell me, where a man might find a bed?
He just grinned and shook my hand, "No" was all he said.
​
Robbie Robertson - The Weight
Carlos Zaragoza left his home in Casas Grandes when the moon was full
No money in his pocket, just a locket of his sister framed in gold
He rode into El Sueco, stole a rooster called Gallo Del Cielo
Then he swam the Rio Grande with that fighter nestled
Deep beneath his arm
​
Tom Russell - Gallo Del Cielo
He's a wino, tried and true.
Done about everything there is to do.
He worked on freighters, he worked in bars.
He worked on farms, 'n he worked on cars.
It was white port, that put that look in his eye
That grown men get when they need to cry
And he sat down on the curb to rest
And his head just fell down on his chest
​
Guy Cark - Let him Roll
Drinking black market vodka in the back of the Scotsman's saloon
Then it's red meat and whiskey like a coyote drunk on the moon
Outside in Oslo the buskers' all sing the same tune
And it's Waltzin' Matilda while the bagpipes play old Clair de Lune
​
Tom Russell - St Olav’s Gate
Pack up all your dishes.
Make note of all good wishes.
Say goodbye to the landlord for me.
That son of a bitch has always bored me.
Throw out them LA papers
And that mouldy box of vanilla wafers.
Adios to all this concrete.
Gonna get me some dirt road back street
​
Guy Clark - L.A. Freeway
We signed up in San Antone, my brother Paul and me
To fight with Ben McCulloch and the Texas infantry
Well the poster said we'd get a uniform and seven bucks a week
The best rations in the army and a rifle we could keep
When I first laid eyes on the general I knew he was a fightin' man
He was every inch a soldier, every word was his command
Well his eyes were cold as the lead and steel forged into tools of war
He took the lives of many and the souls of many more
​
Steve Earle - Ben McCulloch
They say the good die young but it ain't for certain
I bin good all day
I ain't hurtin'
Not in any way
I'm too old to die young
I shouldn't talk too loud
Bad luck is preying on the proud ones
There's nothin' like lying in a graveyard
To teach you to hold your tongue
​
Chris Smither - What They Say
Sittin' in the kitchen, a house in Macon
Loretta's singing on the radio
Smell of coffee, eggs and bacon
Car wheels on a gravel road
​
Lucinda Williams - Car Wheel on a Gravel
Black faces pressed against the glass
Where rain has pressed its weight
Wind-blown scarves in top down cars
All share one western trait
Sadness leaks through tear-stained cheeks
From winos to dime-store Jews
Probably don't know they give me
These late John Garfield blues
​
John Prine - Late John Garfield Blues
The name she gave was Caroline
Daughter of a miner
And her ways were free
It seemed to me
The sunshine walked beside her
​
Townes Van Zandt – Tecumseh Valley
Well I work the double shift
In a bookstore on St Clair
While he pushed the burning ingots
In Dofasco stinking air
Where the truth bites and stings
I remember just what we were
As the noon bell rings for
Blackhawk and the white winged dove
​
Daniel Lanois – Blackhawk
Well, summer is over
The turnstiles are seized
The Ferris wheel turns by itself in the breeze
And the big diesel engines
Idle out on the lawn
Summer is over
And my baby's gone
​
Fred Eaglesmith – Summer is Over
I've spent a lifetime making up my mind to be
More than the measure of what I thought others could see
Good luck and fast bucks are too far and too few between
For Cadillac buyers and old five and dimers like me
​
Billy Joe Shaver – Old Five and Dimers Like Me
She said, "Andy, you're better than your past"
Winked at me and drained her glass
Cross-legged on a barstool, like nobody sits anymore
She said, "Andy, you're taking me home"
But I knew she planned to sleep alone
I'd carry her to bed, sweep up the hair from her floor
​
Jason Isbell – Elephant
Crossroads respects all creative copyright by songwriters and performers and lyrics and recordings are used for review purposes only.
All factual errors and omissions are regretted.
​
​
​
​