Street Map

It’s night time in the big city

A cold wind blows no good

A woman tries to remember when things first went wrong

I can’t believe it’s not butter

 

“Today on Theme Time Radio Hour, we’re gonna walk down that weary road, spend a little time on Easy Street, visit Primrose Lane, and attempt to steer clear of Skid Row. We’ll traverse the avenues and boulevards. We’ll take the road less traveled, and hopefully you’ll find us right up your block. We’ll drive down Route 66, America’s Main Street now sadly gone. We’ll get a little bit of southern exposure on Route 90 and find out the skinny from the man on the streets. Let’s go where the rubber meets the road. That’s right, we’re traversing the highways and byways, the promenades and roadways. We’re on the road to ruin. I may not be a Rhodes Scholar, but I got my share of street smarts! So join us for the next hour as we consult the street map. You are here.”

Singers and Songs

  • Laura Cantrell
    14th Street
    “Gives you a real sense of the serendipitous wonder that is New York City.”
  • The Pilgrim Travelers
    Straight Street
  • (The Skatalites)
    (Streets of Gold) (clip played)
  • Roger Miller
    King Of The Road
  • Ray Charles
    Lonely Avenue
    “You know I don’t usually like to tell people what I’m doing, but I am talking to a couple of car companies about possibly being the voice of their GPS system. I think it would be good if you’re looking for directions and you heard my voice saying something like, ‘Take a left at the next street…no a right…you know what, just go straight.’ I probably shouldn’t do it, ‘cause whichever way I go, I always end up in one place: on Lonely Avenue. Luckily I’m not totally alone. Ray Charles beat me there.”
  • (Percy Mayfield)
    (Hit The Road Jack -- clip)
    “It’s a capella. This allows the inherent dysrhythmia of the song to shine through”
  • Green Day
    Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
  • Mississippi Fred McDowell
    61 Highway
  • Hank Williams
    Lost Highway
  • Little Feat
    Willin'
    “This song has gone on to become a country classic and a truck driver’s anthem. So if you’re driving on the back roads, turn this one up.”
  • The Nat King Cole Trio
    Route 66
    “Back in the 60’s, I used to hear the word ‘groovy’ all the time – I had no idea what people were talking about. For me a record like this was the definition of grooviness. So here’s the grooviest song I know, all about America’s main street.”
  • Clarence ‘Bon Ton’ Garlow
    Route 90
  • Mud Boy and The Neutrons
    Dark End of the Street
    “(Sid Selvidge, Lee Baker, Jimmy Crosthwait,) and of course, that magical musical maestro from Memphis, Jim Dickinson…he was never one of those guys who could fit into a pigeon hole…He was the kind of guy you could call if you needed someone to play the piano, fix a tractor, or make red coleslaw from scratch.”
  • Woody Guthrie
    Going Down the Road Feeling Bad

Other People and Players

Other Songs and Albums

  • Just a Riff
  • Boulevard of Broken Dreams
  • Eleanor Rigby
  • American Idiot
  • Happy Rovin’ Cowboy
  • Bon Ton Roulet
  • They Walk Among Us
  • Chilly Winds

    “In our last show of season two, we talk about the song ‘Chilly Winds.’ We told you how that song kind of morphed into ‘Going Down the Road Feeling Bad.’ Well you didn’t think I was gonna let our Street show go by without playin’ that, did ya?”

The Plays & Musicals

Record Labels

  • Specialty

Places

  • California
  • The West Coast
  • The Great Plains
  • The Dust Bowl
  • Memphis
  • The Autobahn
  • Tiananmen Square
  • Rodeo Drive
  • Bourbon St.
  • Champs Elysee
  • Van Horn
  • Harlow, TX
  • Beaumont, TX
  • New Iberia, LA
    “That’s where they make Tabasco Sauce. You know, I kissed a girl from New Iberia once; had a burning sensation for weeks.” 
  • Slidell, LA
  • Mobile, AL
  • Pensacola
  • Pea Ridge
  • Tallahassee
  • Jacksonville, FL
  • Route 90
  • I-10
  • I-40
  • I-44
  • I-55
  • The Mother Road
  • The U.S. Department of Commerce
  • The White House
  • 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
  • 10 Downing St.
  • 221 B Baker St., London, England
  • Tunica
  • Highway 61
  • Chicago
  • The Mississippi Delta
  • Como, MS
  • Rossville, TN
  • National Ski Hall of Fame
  • Idaho
  • Pacific Northwest
  • Corner of Houston and Bowery
  • New York
  • Ebenezer Place
  • Wick, Scotland
  • Mckay’s Hotel
  • Number 1 Bistro
  • Minnesota
  • Rainy River, Ontario
  • Toronto
  • Yonge Street
  • West Austrailia
  • South Australia
  • Northern Territory (Aus)
  • The Gunbarrel Highway
  • Houston
  • Vaudeville
  • The Academy of Music
  • Broadway
  • Union Square
  • Greenwich Village
  • Chelsea

Books and Poems

  • The Book of Acts, Chapter 9, Verse 11
  • On The Road
    (Clip of Jack reading)
  • The Road and the End

    I shall foot it
    Down the roadway in the dusk,
    Where shapes of hunger wander
    And the fugitives of pain go by.

    I shall foot it
    In the silence of the morning,
    See the night slur into dawn,
    Hear the slow great winds arise
    Where tall trees flank the way
    And shoulder toward the sky.

    The broken boulders by the road
    Shall not commemorate my ruin.
    Regret shall be the gravel under foot.
    I shall watch for
    Slim birds swift of wing
    That go where wind and ranks of thunder
    Drive the wild processionals of rain.

    The dust of the traveled road
    Shall touch my hands and face.

    - Carl Sandburg

Movies and TV Shows

  • Easy Street
  • Carrie
  • Nightmare on Elm Street
    (Promo clip played)

The Most Common Street Names (in order)

  • 1. 2nd St.
  • 2. 3rd St.
  • 3. 1st St.
  • 4. 4th St.
  • 5. Elm St.

The Road and the End – Carl Sandburg

 

I shall foot it

Down the roadway in the dusk,

Where shapes of hunger wander

And the fugitives of pain go by.

 

I shall foot it In the silence of the morning,

See the night slur into dawn,

Hear the slow great winds arise

Where tall trees flank the way

And shoulder toward the sky.

 

The broken boulders by the road

Shall not commemorate my ruin.

Regret shall be the gravel under foot.

I shall watch for

Slim birds swift of wing

That go where wind and ranks of thunder

Drive the wild processionals of rain.

 

The dust of the traveled road

Shall touch my hands and face.