FAWM: "I-79"

I-79

2025 by @orinthebard

NSFW

Liner Notes

For the #finishit challenge. Based on a story that came to me while driving back from vacation along I-79 last year. In the original song the trucker was a serial killer and the protagonist met an untimely death, but that felt cliche so I abandoned it until I finished/rewrote it here.

Something something liminal spaces something something life is a highway

I SPENT TOO MANY HOURS RECORDING AND MIXING THIS. Edit: notes on the mix are welcome. Now that I listen through laptop speakers, the vocals seem way too loud, but what do y'all think?

(Content warnings for potential substance references/mistreatment of a child)

#countryfolk #baritoneukulele #banjolele #logicdrummer

Lyrics

Chasing white lines, chasing white lines Chasing white lines down the I-79 til she dies Telling white lies, telling white lies Telling white lies on the I-79 til she dies

She came from Pennsylvania where she poured hops into vats Heard Virginia was for lovers and she needed some of that Followed a boyfriend down to some old mine town And got trapped in the holler like so many folks who drown down here

Chasing white lines, chasing white lines Chasing white lines down the I-79 til she dies Telling white lies, telling white lies Telling white lies down the I-79 til she dies

Let's be in love til the dawn I know it ain't as real as the horse I rode in on Let's be in love for the night In your rotting trailer with the green mosquito light

He liked to drink, she liked to fight Their habits needed funding so she went out in the night And met a man with stoplight eyes She didn't listen to the voice that said to run and hide

Let's be in love til the dawn I know it ain't as real as the horse you rode in on Let's be in love for the night At the no-tell-motel with the pink flamingo light

Then she heard a cry from his long-haul truck When he fell asleep after they were done She jacked the key and opened up the cab

There’s a baby sleeping halfway to death In filth so bad she holds her breath Takes out her knife and cuts the ratchet straps

And tries to clean the child up in the rest stop bath The graffiti on the wall says Lovers— she says “fuck that” It took saving a helpless one for her to save herself When she heard her inner child screaming up to her from hell

And in the end, was it still right? To steal someone’s neglected baby off into the night? She knows the dark follows to the dawn And all we really have are beat up bodies we run on

Chasing white lines, chasing white lines Chasing white lines down the I-79 til we die Telling white lies, telling white lies Telling white lies on the I-79 til we die

Let's be in love with the dark Since we’re all stuck here til the singing of the larks Let’s be in love with the night In our rotting trailers, in the gas station taillights

Comments

@lbrewington 2025

Wow. Great job here. So many great lines throughout, and the story, just great. Started our really good and then bam, the crying baby just takes it off on a completely different tangent. "It took saving a helpless one for her to save herself When she heard her inner child screaming up to her from hell" is powerful. But yeah, so many great lines "bodies we run on", "singing of the larks". I cant comment on the mix, but the production with the background vocals and the rhythm section really fit nicely. Great job on this one.

@sirius 2025

I'd say the vocals could be slightly less upfront in the mix, but they're so good I am not disturbed at all! This is a wonderful composition, loving the bittersweet tone it has. Sometimes, dark stuff needs not so dark music, just like here. The message is even more powerful.

@newukenewyork 2025

I'm not a mixer but listening on my desktop computer, I found the mix to work well for me. Your vocals cut through clear, but I hear the instrumentation underneath.

Love the way the rhythm shifts in the chorus. Cool storytelling, overall really great write! Those "let's be in love" couplets are my favorite.

@tfish77 2025

Wow, what a story! I dig the vocal distortion and how well it plays against the uke and other instruments. And of course, a great performance.

@bradbrubaker 2025

Nice twist on the classic murder ballad. "Your rotting trailer with the green mosquito light" was an especially cool detail. Mix-wise: Yeah, I'd agree that the vocals seem louder than they need to be.

@willow1 2025

This is ao cinematic-I find your musical storytelling absolutely captivating. No-tell hotel with pink flamingos-evokes a strangely familiar landscape for such adventure.

@alyxanderjames 2025

There are so many good lines and evocative images in here, "stoplight eyes" caught me off-guard in a really good way, and "all we really have are beat up bodies we run on" was a really satisfying one, too.

@jorh 2025

The chorus is ace - love the repetition and clever internal rhyming, make for an ear worm when you deliver it. Amazing storytelling too - I very much enjoyed the specificity and how it was full of twist and turns - didn’t see the baby stealing coming! Great start :)

@odilongreen 2025

That chorus is such a splendid earworm! And I like the direction you took the story a lot; I absolutely did not know where this was going, and I really like the questions posed in the "And in the end, was it still right?" verse. Musically catchy and thoughtful; you've got a winner here!

@fileformat 2025

Powerful lyrics, love the mix.

Command Center

I-79

Liner Notes

Lyrics

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