Description
All CDs will be signed and numbered.
1. Road Movie (Murphy) Studio Version
2. Drive All Night (Murphy) Acoustic
3. Stolen Car (Springsteen) Acoustic
Car Songs (Vintage Series #12) is a compact three song CD EP that contains a beautifully arranged full band version of “Road Movie” (outtake from the Selling The Gold album) along with an acoustic rendition of Elliott’s signature anthem “Drive All Night” and ending with a heartfelt tribute to the master of the genre himself, a moving version of Bruce Springsteen’s “Stolen Car” (alternative version from the Tracks album). The photo on the cover is a story onto itself and shows Garden City’s 7th Street where Elliott grew up and the Garden City Music Center where he took guitar lessons, bought his first guitar strap (“That was a game changer,” says Elliott) and bought 45rpm singles including Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues.”
Elliott remembers: “Back then, in the GC Music Center they would actually allow you to listen to 45rpm 7inch singles before you bought them and so they had a few turntables with headphones. I remember listening to “Subterranean Homesick Blues” a dozen times before the salesman took the needle off the record and asked me if I intended to buy it or not. Well, I did. Other records I remember buying there back in the day were Johnny Preston’s “Running Bear,” Dion’s “Runaround Sue” and the Ventures’ classic rock instrumental “Walk Don’t Run” so obviously I was born to run myself! The back cover shows the huge Gulf service station where I bought my first pack of cigarettes. Luckily, it didn’t become a habit.”
A sample of the “Road Movie” lyrics points the way like a spiritual GPS:
SO YOU’RE DYING TO RUN – BUT YOU’RE BORN TO CRAWL
LIVING TO FIGHT YOUR WAY THROUGH THE UNIVERSE
BLESSED OR CURSED – HURT OR WORSE – LAST OR FIRST – SHORT OR TALL
BUT YOU CAN’T HOLD ON – YOU CAN’T LET HER GO
YOU CAN’T GET HER SONG OUT OF YOUR SOUNDTRACK
FROM THE FLAT LANDS OF TEXAS TO THE PEAKS OF IDAHO
SO YOU KEEP ON MOVING – BECAUSE YOU CAN’T STAND STILL
IF YOU’RE GONNA FIND A LITTLE BIT OF HAPPINESS
A TASTE OF BLISS IN ALL OF THIS
WHOEVER SAID IT’S JUST A TEST
THEY MEANT ITS JUST A TEST OF WILL
Elliott adds, “Road Movie was one of my last recordings where I played lead guitar as a few years later I handed that duty over to Olivier Durand but hopefully I went out with some panache and flash. I should also mention that the evocative backing vocals are sung by my wife Françoise Viallon-Murphy in a rare studio appearance.
