Ford Econoline

Stand by your van

People think all Econoline vans are the same. But they’re not all the same.

You got your airport shuttle van. Which you don’t see much these days. (Uber killed the SuperShuttle.) You got your plumber’s van with the hockey-puck style lock on the backdoor. You got your panel van with no windows, otherwise known in certain circles as a “stabbin’ cabin.” Which is a little unfair to electricians. The “Church Van.” And the indie rock twelve-passenger-pulling-a-trailer model, to name a few.

You can tell a lot about a band by the van they’re driving. More than they’d ever tell you over that backstage hummus. For example: Sprinters are de rigueur overseas, but Sprinters stateside give off a certain image here in the US. Somehow on the posh side. Not exactly the Country Club type but sometimes it feels like The Sprinter Van people—they’re looking down on us Econoline class. Maybe they’re just looking down because you can stand up in a Sprinter. Yeah, the interior standing height can be six feet plus…

I digress.

ANYHOODLES: I wrote a song about my van. And it’s stood the test of time. (The song. Not the van). I don’t know how many Econolines I’ve owned since I wrote that song. But to this day, it remains a song that consistently asserts its way into the set. And thankfully, it’s a song where no one has ever cornered me after a gig and asked me what it’s about.

It’s about the Ford Econoline.

Mystery solved.

Stand by your van

I didn’t exactly write it in one sitting. But I do remember sitting in the kitchen one morning reading the paper and getting inspired. It must have a been a slow day because I somehow made it to the business section. And it was there that I read about the Ford Motor Company discontinuing the manufacturing of the Econoline. I’ll admit it, I got a little misty. I may have shed a tear. There was no one around to see me. But yeah, where to start? A lot of miles logged in those things. Too many to count. Great conversations. Band therapy sessions no one exactly billed insurance for. Awkward silences that seemed to stretch on for days. Heated debates over where to stop for lunch. Arguments Stephie always seemed to win.

Not sure how many we’ve owned at this point. But the first thing you do with a new Econoline? Take out that last bench seat. Then find some place to stash it. In the city that can be tough. I’m sitting on one right now in my South of Market shoebox of an office.

I’m not much for pulling a trailer. Parking is humbling enough as is.

So yeah… the song. We cut it during the Night Surfer tracking sessions. It came together on one of the days when Peter Buck was in the band. Three guitars tracking live—just like Skynyrd. Me with my fretting out acoustic, James playing slide and Peter playing that ding-ding-a-ding lick on 12 string. That lick really makes the chorus. No surprise there. But Peter Buck proved to be a hook machine.

Here’s the song. And the lyrics below. And as an added bonus, an extra verse that didn’t make the song. It must’ve fallen out of the back of the van somewhere between the studio and that gas station somewhere outside Needles, California—the one where Stephie, against all odds, managed to find a salad bar. Nuts! For real. James will back me up on that one.

Onwards,

-CP

P.S. We’ll be loading up the Econoline and taking it to Woollystar this weekend, and then Guerneville in a few weeks (Saturday, June 27) for Summertime Thing at the Rio Nido Roadhouse. It may not be the biggest festival out there. But if you like Chuck Prophet music, it just might be the best one going.

Ford Econoline

She pulled over said, “Climb on in”
I did what she said
She turned the music up real loud
It was The Talking Heads

Didn’t matter where we was going
Made no difference to me at the time
Takes me back when I hear that song
Makes me feel warm inside

Ford Econoline!

Ever since the beginning of the world
The beginning of time
Somebody said that the road was his
Somebody said, “No, it’s mine”

Some folks are born ‘neath a sign on the road
Close enough to turn and leave it all behind
Fall together like the Rock Of Gibraltar
Guitars and drums inside

Ford Econoline! Ford Econoline Ford Econoline

Chris-crossed the country in a two tone job
It was a 1985
Mile after mile we was burning oil
We couldn’t keep it alive

Laid out flatter than a Chinese rug
When she went her way I went mine
All these memories like dirty plates
Stacked up in the sink of time

Ford Econoline! Ford Econoline

They hosed me down just for a laugh
And said, “It’s not a crime”
I saw you coming over the hill
I couldn’t get there in time

When I think of how you suffered
I can’t believe the tears are mine
I still picture you behind the wheel
Squinting into the sun, coming down the line

In your Ford Econoline