Chuck Berry - Promised Land
(click for YouTube)I left my home in Norfolk Virginia,
California on my mind.
I straddled that Greyhound and rode him into Raleigh,
And on across Caroline.Stopped in Charlotte but bypassed Rock Hill,
We never was a minute late.
We was ninety miles out of Atlanta by sundown,
Rollin' outa' Georgia state.We had motor trouble it turned into a struggle,
Half-way 'cross Alabam,
And that 'hound broke down and left us all stranded
In downtown Birmingham.Right away I bought me a through train ticket,
Right across Mississippi clean.
And I was on that midnight flyer out of Birmingham
Smoking into New Orleans.Somebody help me get out of Louisiana,
Just help me get to Houston town.
There are people there who care a little 'bout me
And they won't let the poor boy down.Sure as you're born, they bought me a silk suit,
Put luggage in my hands,
And I woke up high over Albuquerque
On a jet to the promised land.Workin' on a T-bone steak a la carte
Flying over to the Golden State,
When the pilot told us in thirteen minutes
He would sit us at the terminal gate.Swing low chariot, come down easy
Taxi to the terminal zone.
Cut your engines, cool your wings,
And let me make it to the telephone.Los Angeles give me Norfolk Virginia,
Tidewater four ten-o-nine
Tell the folks back home this is the promised land callin'
And the poor boy is on the line.
Chuck Berry’s “Promised Land” got airplay on our rock stations in Los Angeles in the spring of 1965.
Bump.