Well my mother’s father and my uncle were both truck drivers all their lives but I don’t drive which kind of sad considering how many times driving features in my songs!
I imagined it as a kind of folkier version of ‘Return to Sender’!
The last lines are a straight cop of a Raymond Carver idea in his wonderful poem (Deschutes River) where he ends up trying to disentangle a snagged fishing line and then drops the line about his wife in another man’s bed…..pure class..so now you know….
This track was performed wonderfully by Ronny Elliott in a Johnny Cash manner on Moon Over The Downs disc. That has become the definitive version but here my original.
An important track for the reason that it started the whole ‘Trailer Star’ concept. The tale of a down and out singing from a mobile home idea is down to this song.
At the time I was just trying to copy typical americana tropes of a letter home and for some reason there some Everley Brothers in the mix.
The Devil’s Address
I’m in heaven that’s what the sign says
This bar’s more like hell, everything painted red
Every once in a while a truck goes by headed north
Headlights flashing across these smoky walls
If you want to find me
Post a letter to ‘Happiness’
Mark it care of the devil’s address
I started driftin’ when I couldn’t pay the rent
That mobile home was more like a shed
I spent every winter watching the rain
Turn that gravel path into a lake
Now I’m fine and dandy but I’m all alone
Just me and the sparkle of the tarmac road
Thousand miles behind me, wife’s in another man’s bed
Thousand miles ahead before I’ll ever rest
Ronny’s version here:
Ronny’s website: http://ronnyelliott.blogspot.co.uk/
