# Carefree Highway **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 11, 2002, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carefree-highway/103024 "2002-04-11T13:19:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carefree-highway/103024/1 "2002-04-11T13:19:47Z")
Gordon Lightfoot’s _Carefree Highway_ keeps playing in my mind. They don’t play that kind of music on The World Famous KROQ, my favourite college station KXLU, or on NPR. I haven’t heard the song in years. And yet there is is. _Picking up the pieces of my sweet shattered dream I wonder how the old folks are tonight…_ What’s up with that? Why is it stuck in my head? ---
**Author:** ![EVO95](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@EVO95](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EVO95)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carefree-highway/103024/2 "2002-04-11T13:25:16Z")
Oh great…thanks a lot… _carefree highway…lets me slip away…_ ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carefree-highway/103024/3 "2002-04-11T14:41:57Z")
Would someone please call my sister and tell her it’s Carefree Highway NOT Every Highway? Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carefree-highway/103024/4 "2002-04-11T15:39:33Z")
> [@](#): > > Would someone please call my sister and tell her it’s Carefree Highway NOT Every Highway? Is she cute? Is she single? 😃 (Of course, she could always google the lyrics.) ---
**Author:** ![Arwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7c8e57/32.png) [@Arwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arwen)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carefree-highway/103024/5 "2002-04-11T16:48:59Z")
Hey, thanks. Now not only am I singing that song, but I have been edjamafied. I thought it was “Every Highway”. (I’m terrible with lyrics…) ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carefree-highway/103024/6 "2002-04-11T16:54:34Z")
Thank God. I was _hoping_ that this was going to be a Gordon Lightfoot thread. I am not disappointed. By the way, he’s going to be in San Diego over the summer at Humphrey’s to perform. I’m thinking about buying tickets. I now have this song in my head, too. So while I can’t explain its presence in your head, you have comfort in knowing that you are now not alone. (Do you think Kevin & Bean secretly listen to Gordon Lightfoot when they get home from work?) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carefree-highway/103024/7 "2002-04-11T17:06:26Z")
_Those mornin’-after blues from my head down to my shoes…_ It means you’re about to go on a journey, said the fortune cookie. Or was it the Magic 8-Ball? Reply hazy, ask again later. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carefree-highway/103024/8 "2002-04-11T17:14:44Z")
Put me in the “formerly thought it was Every” camp, too. ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carefree-highway/103024/9 "2002-04-11T17:23:09Z")
Just a note to add that I’d encourage you NOT to click on the Great Debate thread “Gateway says it’s fun to steal music” (or something similar. I guess the Gateway ad uses a hip hop mix of Sundown, and a few other songs are mentioned as being covered in strange ways. Then you’ll have the whole G.L. repertoire in your head, not just this song. ---
**Author:** ![Tedster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@Tedster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tedster)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carefree-highway/103024/10 "2002-04-11T17:25:14Z")
Mentally, I always sort of catalogued Gordon Lightfoot in the Harry Chapin~Jim Croce singer songwriter category. Figgered he’d have to be dead, too. Glad he’s doing OK, though. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carefree-highway/103024/11 "2002-04-11T17:48:08Z")
> [@](#): > > I now have this song in my head, too. So while I can’t explain its presence in your head, you have comfort in knowing that you are now not alone. Weird, eh? that it would be in both our heads. I mean your head and my head – not “both our heads” in the sense that we have two heads and the song is in both for each of us. > [@](#): > > (Do you think Kevin & Bean secretly listen to Gordon Lightfoot when they get home from work?) Now, _that’s_ an amusing image. Other Gordon Lightfoot songs are trying to come to me: _Early Morning Rain_, _Go My Way_, _The House You Live In_, _Summer Side of Life_, _Summertime Dream_, _10 Degrees and Getting Colder_ and _Song for a Winter’s Night_. But they’re being held back by _Carefree Highway_. I suppose it could be worse. At least I don’t have _The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald_ in there. So **scout** … You say it’s not just me, and you’re in San Diego. As it happens, **I** lived in San Diego until I was 15. Maybe it’s a San Diego thing? Hmmm… ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carefree-highway/103024/12 "2002-04-11T18:16:17Z")
_If you could read my mind, love, What a tale my thoughts could tell._ I, too, was hoping this would be a GL thread 🙂 Now I’m going to have to break out the CDs to properly get my fix… _Carefree highway, let me slip away on you._ ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carefree-highway/103024/13 "2002-04-11T18:36:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scout1222 \* > \*\*Just a note to add that I’d encourage you NOT to click on the Great Debate thread “Gateway says it’s fun to steal music” (or something similar. > > I guess the Gateway ad uses a hip hop mix of Sundown, and a few other songs are mentioned as being covered in strange ways. > > Then you’ll have the whole G.L. repertoire in your head, not just this song. \*\* The band is elwood. The CD is _the parlance of our time._ It’s a enjoyable disk. I enjoy playing both versions of _Sundown_ sequentially. ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carefree-highway/103024/14 "2002-04-11T19:32:46Z")
This is making me feel so much better. I’m not the only Lightfoot fan. :: dabs a tear :: That’s it, I’m following **Scylla’s** lead. To hell with what everyone else thinks. I’m going to revel in the things I like, regardless of their apparent coolness (or lack thereof). Hi, I’m scout…and I love Gordon Lightfoot. Ah, sweet release. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carefree-highway/103024/15 "2002-04-11T23:05:22Z")
Now _Summer Side of Life_ is trying to take over. Damn. Looks like I’m going to have to find the CD. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carefree-highway/103024/16 "2002-04-11T23:14:58Z")
I bought GL greatest hits when I was seventeen. And that was in 1996. I hid that CD from everyone-I was terrified people would make fun of me. Oh well…I rationalize that the guy was friends with Bob Dylan, so he can’t be too geeky. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carefree-highway/103024/17 "2002-04-11T23:31:08Z")
There is a road called “Carefree Highway” that runs West-East, just North of Phoenix. I wonder if one is related to the other? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2002, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carefree-highway/103024/18 "2002-04-12T00:22:10Z")
> [@](#): > > There is a road called “Carefree Highway” that runs West-East, just North of Phoenix. I wonder if one is related to the other? As a matter of fact, I was thinking today about how nice it would be to buy a more powerful bike (Yamaha, because I love Yamahas; or a BMW like James Bond rode) and riding out to AZ to ride on Carefree Highway. At the risk of sending this thread over to Café Society, I think Gordon Lightfoot may have seen Carefree Highway and decided it would be good in a song. Or maybe not. The song doesn’t seem to say anything about the road itself, so it may just be about living a carefree life and wondering how his old girlfriend is. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2002, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carefree-highway/103024/19 "2002-04-12T00:45:13Z")
BTW: It’s cool that such ultra-hotties as **scout1222** (whom I met at the last Dopefest) and **Guinastasia** (whose photo I’ve seen) like Gordon Lightfoot. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2002, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carefree-highway/103024/20 "2002-04-12T01:19:05Z")
Anthracite beat me to it, I thought you were asking directions to the Ben Avery shooting range just off I-17. I haven’t heard the song in years but probably misheard the lyrics too. A highly underrated songsmith and balladeer. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carefree-highway/103024.md?page=2)