The Black Gum Highway

Ray Barbier

the Imp Div

Ray Barbier

Gothic Country, Americana Noir

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[Verse 1] (Vocals are a low, dusty growl, intimate and weary) The billboards are peeling like sun-burnt skin Telling me exactly where the "End" begins The pines are huddling in the ditch’s jaw Under the shadow of a scavenger’s claw I’ve got a dashboard Jesus and a silver flask Don't ask the questions you don't want to ask.

[Pre-Chorus] (The music builds with a "scraping" sound, like a bow across cello strings. A distant, ghostly slide guitar wails in the background.) The moon is a pale eye... Watching the world die... The white lines are stitches... In the fields and the ditches!

[Chorus] (The sound expands, becoming cinematic and heavy. It feels like a storm breaking over a graveyard.) Oh, carry me down the Black Gum Highway! Doing it the lonesome and the dying-sun way! It’s a Ozark fever and a St. Louis chill With a ghost in the passenger seat, sitting so still! Yeah, the road is a serpent, the night is a cage We’re just the ink on a blackened-out page!

[Verse 2] (The banjo becomes more percussive. You can hear the "creak" of a rocking chair sampled into the rhythm.) I passed a church with the windows boarded tight Holding back the secrets of a Missouri night The deer in the headlights got a human stare There’s a smell of cedar and rain in the air I’m driving to the place where the maps all go blind Leaving the "Gateway" and the living behind.

[Bridge - The "Midnight Procession"] (The tempo stays the same, but the arrangement gets thicker. A funeral-march brass section (low trombones) enters, playing a slow, mournful chord progression. The tremolo guitar reaches a fever pitch.) (Vocals - Chanted) "Down to the hollow... Where the crows all follow... Down to the creek... Where the skeletons speak..."

[Final Chorus] (The most powerful moment. The deep "thump" of the drums is joined by a heavy, distorted bass guitar.) Oh, carry me down the Black Gum Highway! Doing it the lonesome and the dying-sun way! It’s a Ozark fever and a St. Louis chill With a ghost in the passenger seat, sitting so still!

[Outro] (The instruments fade out one by one, leaving only the "spiderweb" banjo melody. The sound of tires on gravel and the "tick-tick-tick" of a cooling engine finish the track.) Just keep driving... 'Til the dawn... (Final sound: a distant, lonely owl hooting.) [End]

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[Intro] (Starts with a heavy, slow tremolo guitar—that "wobbling" dark surf sound. A lonely banjo plucks a minor-key melody that sounds like a spiderweb. The drums are just a deep, resonant floor tom hitting on the 1 and the 3.) [Verse 1] (Vocals are a low, dusty growl, intimate and weary) The billboards are peeling like sun-burnt skin Telling me exactly where the "End" begins The pines are huddling in the ditch’s jaw Under the shadow of a scavenger’s claw I’ve got a dashboard Jesus and a silver flask Don't ask the questions you don't want to ask. [Pre-Chorus] (The music builds with a "scraping" sound, like a bow across cello strings. A distant, ghostly slide guitar wails in the background.) The moon is a pale eye... Watching the world die... The white lines are stitches... In the fields and the ditches! [Chorus] (The sound expands, becoming cinematic and heavy. It feels like a storm breaking over a graveyard.) Oh, carry me down the Black Gum Highway! Doing it the lonesome and the dying-sun way! It’s a Ozark fever and a St. Louis chill With a ghost in the passenger seat, sitting so still! Yeah, the road is a serpent, the night is a cage We’re just the ink on a blackened-out page! [Verse 2] (The banjo becomes more percussive. You can hear the "creak" of a rocking chair sampled into the rhythm.) I passed a church with the windows boarded tight Holding back the secrets of a Missouri night The deer in the headlights got a human stare There’s a smell of cedar and rain in the air I’m driving to the place where the maps all go blind Leaving the "Gateway" and the living behind. [Bridge - The "Midnight Procession"] (The tempo stays the same, but the arrangement gets thicker. A funeral-march brass section (low trombones) enters, playing a slow, mournful chord progression. The tremolo guitar reaches a fever pitch.) (Vocals - Chanted) "Down to the hollow... Where the crows all follow... Down to the creek... Where the skeletons speak..." [Final Chorus] (The most powerful moment. The deep "thump" of the drums is joined by a heavy, distorted bass guitar.) Oh, carry me down the Black Gum Highway! Doing it the lonesome and the dying-sun way! It’s a Ozark fever and a St. Louis chill With a ghost in the passenger seat, sitting so still! [Outro] (The instruments fade out one by one, leaving only the "spiderweb" banjo melody. The sound of tires on gravel and the "tick-tick-tick" of a cooling engine finish the track.) Just keep driving... 'Til the dawn... (Final sound: a distant, lonely owl hooting.) [End]

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