The Philosophy of Modern Song: Key to the Highway

Posted on March 22, 2026 by Tony Attwood

 

 

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By Tony Attwood

I must admit that sometimes I find it difficult to grasp the actual “philosophy” behind some of the songs Bob selected for his post-Doctorate book, but Key to the Highway is one that takes little interpretation.

I got the key to the highwayBilled out and bound to goI'm gonna leave here runningWalking is most too slow

I'm going back to the borderWoman, where I'm better knownYou know you haven't done nothingDrove a good man away from home

Oh give me one, one more kiss mamaJust before I go'Cause when I leave this time you know II won't be back no more

I got the key, key to the highwayGood time and bound to goI'm gonna leave here runningWalking is most too slow

I got the key to the highwayOh, oh, billed out and bound to goI'm gonna leave here runningWalking is most too slow

I'm going back, back to the borderWhere I'm better knownYou know you haven't done nothingDrove a good man away from home

If you have read through those lyrics you’ll have noticed that the fact that the man left his home is entirely down to the woman, and its all her fault.    And blaming it all on the woman is perhaps not the best part of the tradition of the blues.

This is Little Walter’s version – Bob’s reinterpretation is presented below…

A significant part of the blues is, of course, related to getting back home – the “home” being the place where everything is fine, and where one can settle down.  And with the secondary implication that the woman who drew him away from home simply “doesn’t understand”.

It is a strange theme when one thinks about it, because these blues singers who have left home have seemingly done so either because of a woman or of their own volition, and it is only now, in the midst of their travelling on, that they find themselves in places they don’t want to be.   In this regard, their home takes on an almost mythical being – but there is no reason given for them to think home was better, other than it was where they were brougt up before the evil woman tempted them away.  And now they just want to get back there.

As a lyrical concept it seems to me to be a load of *******************

Bt what causes the man to be led elsewhere?  Is it just the woman, or the discipline of the parents, or the negativity of the school teachers, or indeed downright prejudice….   in effect I suspect not, it is just that view that nowhere else can be this bad so the next place has to be better.    And so the travelling goes on and on until in the end the traveller reaches the conclusion that home was best place after all.  And then blames it on the woman.

As such, the song symbolises the failure of the singer to take hold of life and shape it in his own way, and thus the whole approach of the “going back home” songs is one of failure.   Which, when one thinks about it, is really odd.

But Bob played the song during his 1960s concerts, including this gig at Fort Lauderdale….

It is of course, a classic 12 bar blues, although Bob’s band really does make the most of it in the performance above.

Previously in this series

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