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about

USA to Go was written with the help of the Rand McNally atlas of the United States that I had carried round in the summer of 1977 when, after first working as an ice cream salesman and later an office clerk in New Orleans, I Greyhound-bussed my way around the country.

We wrote it in my flat in Leeds, above Eddie’s fish n’chip shop. I recall hitting various chords on my guitar with Pete writing lyrics, helped (I think) by me shouting out various towns and highway names from the atlas.

lyrics

USA TO GO

I was standing on the corner of a one-way street
Wondering which way to go
Policeman came up to me and asked me the time
I said that I didn’t know
Looking for the way to New Orleans
Via Walt Disney World
Flying PanAm to Dixieland, trying to find my girl

Got off the plane at JFK,
I was searched by the customs man
Took away my passport, took all my clothes
You can guess what happened then
Finally released me, got on my way
Caught a Greyhound out of town
Had a three-month Ameripass in my hand
Gonna cover a lot of ground

Couldn’t find her inNew Orleans
She’d left a letter pointing the way
Along I-10 to LA, up Interstate 5
Past Sequoia and Yosemite, onto Highway 101
Through pleasant Crescent City and Coos Bay too
Soon waving Oregon goodbye

Up into Vancouver, Washington,
Through Seattle to Vancouver BC
Caught a plane to Chicago, stayed overnight
I wish she were here with me
Went to her sister in Buffalo,
She didn’t know where she was
Suggested a cousin in Albany
It was back on the goddam bus

Cousin said she had gone back home
I caught the next plane out
Landed at Heathrow, hired a car down the M25
Off at Sunbury soon found her home
But she wasn’t there
Left for Pensacola on the noon-day plane
It really isn’t fair, here we go again . . .

credits

from It's Later Than You Think, released September 19, 2023
Words and music by
Ian Tasker & Peter Monteith

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Ian Tasker Sherborne, UK

Hi - Thank you for visiting my site.

A retired journalist from Sherborne in Dorset, the lockdown gave me the time to finally record some of the songs I wrote decades ago - together with a few new ones.

"It's Later Than You Think" - released on 22nd September 2023 - is my second album, following on from 2021's "Losing Track Of Time"

Give me a listen and feel free to message me your comments. ... more

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