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Album: Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Avg rating:
5.5

Your rating:
Total ratings: 519









Released: 1998
Length: 3:59
Plays (last 30 days): 1
I don't want you anymore
Cause you took my joy
I don't want you anymore
You took my joy

You took my joy
I want it back
You took my joy
I want it back

I'm gonna go to west memphis and look for my joy
Go to west memphis and look for my joy
Maybe in west memphis I'll find my joy
Maybe in west memphis i'll find my joy

I'm gonna go to slidell and look for my joy
Go to slidell and look for my joy
Maybe in slidell I'll find my joy
Maybe in slidell I'll find my joy

You got no right to take my joy
I want it back
You got no right to take my joy
I want it back

You took my joy
I want it back
You took my joy
I want it back

I'm gonna go to west memphis and look for my joy
Go to west memphis and look for my joy
Maybe in west memphis i'll find my joy
Maybe in west memphis i'll find my joy

I'm gonna go to slidell and look for my joy
Go to slidell and look for my joy
Maybe in slidell i'll find my joy
Maybe in slidell i'll find my joy

I don't want you anymore
Cause you took my joy
I don't want you anymore
You took my joy

You took my joy
I want it back
You took my joy
I want it back

You took my joy
I want it back
You took my
I want it back

I'm gonna go to west memphis
I'm gonna go to slidell
Comments (172)add comment
When the guitar started playing, I thought this was Little Feat. What a disappointment...
Not to get too philosophical and all...but - no one can "take your joy".  Joy lives in and is manifested within ourselves!  {#Bounce}

The extent to which this wonderful, simple tune has been blasted again demonstrates the undeniable fact ...... rock and roll is indeed dead, at least to this audience.   I think rock gets played here mostly as a novelty, some sort of homage to some fancied past.  RIP.
" Took my Bok Choy, I want my crack."

There, let's all pitch in and help with some alternate rhymes. 
This song rocks live!   Her band is rock solid!
The weakest song on a wonderful album.
 Stunning in it's level of annoyingness.

As Charles Barkely would say, " That's just TURRIBLE!" 
The band is tight, but the lyrics are too repetitive.
Sounds like a relapse song.
Started out promising, ended up lyrical drivel.
I love this tune. Like many of her tunes, it tells a story that you get to fill in with your imagination. 
 sookay wrote:
...really rockx ! I am with you...


 

 Baketown wrote:
This song rocks and live it really rocks!  Her band is solid!

 

I loved it !
Not digging this very much.
I need to have her slipped in to the mix. She's better as a bit of a surprise than a conscious decision... Maybe, that's just me.
This song rocks and live it really rocks!  Her band is solid!
slide me a mess o dat.....{#Dance}
totally silly boogie.....{#Bananajam}{#Guitarist}{#Dancingbanana}......coooooool
 winter wrote:
Lucinda's OK, most of the time.
This is SOOOOO not.
My joy is when this song ends...
 
The comment rings true for me, even all these years later. Bleh.
Poor Lucinda lost her door
I love Lucinda Williams, but this song had to grow on me.  I love watching her play it live, and I love Bettye Lavette's version -- which I view as a tribute to Lucinda.  Having said all that, the song has grown on me, and I love it now.   (how many times did I say love?  {#Sick})
Her band rocks this song live so hard!!
I dig this.
maryte wrote:
Bettye LaVette's cover blows this out of the water.
I like them both (and since I usually don't like covers maybe that means that Betty LaVette's version IS better). This song is best done live because it really gives the band a chance to stretch out. Every time I've seen her live this song is a highlight.
This song is best sung in Cajun French simply because I can't speak the tongue and don't have to listen to the lyrics (although I do like the slide guitar).
Bettye LaVette's cover blows this out of the water.
themotion wrote:
can i get a count of how many times she says "joy" in this song? my guess ... too many.
29
I love this song. It\'s my divorce song.
my mother-in-law can't stand this song....which means I love it! play it again..
...somehow, that this song references slidell of all places is fitting...make of that what you will, the baggage is intended... ...i call this coarse rock...
Hearing this in the background and not paying close attention, I thought it was the White Stripes.
can i get a count of how many times she says "joy" in this song? my guess ... too many.
Lucinda's OK, most of the time. This is SOOOOO not. My joy is when this song ends...
Is she serious? I mean, really?
Uhg. Time to tune out... Man, she's horrible.
Carl wrote:
Amazingly, this has been in the RP lineup since March 2002! It's rated a mediocre 5.4 with nearly 100% negative comments lately. Yet, it's still being played! Go figure...
Bill plays what he likes. 10.
Govi wrote:
There ain't much to say, 'cause she sung it all, well, accurately, and right on top of the emotions. Damn good song!
I'm on this bus!
I liked it. 7 and I'm keeping that. I think.
Amazingly, this has been on the RP lineup since March 2002! It's rated a mediocre 5.4 with nearly 100% negative comments lately. Yet, it's still being played! Go figure...
Baby_M wrote:
Sounds like Kandy Slice (Gilda Radner) from the classic SNL skit. That's not a good thing, either.
This song was literally giving me a head ache, so I had to take off the headphones... this song took away my joy, and I want it back!
What she said you took my joy, and I want it back sad, I usually like her stuff
MinMan wrote:
Somebody please return this much fabled "joy" so they will stop this incessant racket.
ha! (and yes, please give her back her joy. it hurts.)
not my favorite l.w. tune, but for some reason my 5 year old nephew loves it. he sings all of the words and it's the funniest thing ever.
dang. i usually like lucinda williams...what happened on this tune?
Her voice grates on me.
sometimes I just scream sing this song!
Great intro, but then she started singing...
Somebody please return this much fabled "joy" so they will stop this incessant racket.
Yuck.
Now if ZZ Top had done this ......
Great guitar, but the vocals and lyrics are lacking. Well not really lacking, just basically suck!
Darn! She just took MY joy....
MysticMilt wrote:
I do not get the Lucinda Williams love. At all.
I don't either.
Okay, I give, I give. You can have it back!!
Nope -- no joy in West Memphis or Slidell....
I don't mind her voice at all but the way in which she sings the chorus of this song is grating.
She should stop gargling with Joy.
Odyzzeuz wrote:
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, tho, the album, is great. This is the weakest track.
I've heard a few from this album, and I cannot get any of it. This one especially..I can't get this at all-what a terrible song. Put this girl out of her misery! ......and me out of mine for listening.
music is ok but I get no joy listenin' to her sing that song.
She needs to stop licking the gravel road!
There ain't much to say, 'cause she sung it all, well, accurately, and right on top of the emotions. Damn good song!
The music is good, but the singing is keeping me from really liking this song.
She needs to quit smoking 40 cigs a day by the sound of it.
MysticMilt wrote:
I do not get the Lucinda Williams love. At all.
And this is one of the most grating, annoying, obnoxious songs that she has ever mustered together.
Sounds like Kandy Slice (Gilda Radner) from the classic SNL skit. That's not a good thing, either.
DisplacedNorthrnr wrote:
You took my choy and I want it bok...
ROLFING Just can't quite get into her....
melissa wrote:
I picked up Lucinda's Live at the Fillmore CD not too long ago. This song ROCKS on that album. Great guitar and gritty vocals as only Lucinda can deliver... although I'm still not convinced she can find her joy in Slidell.
I would love to hear her live stuff considering how great this album is! Thanks for the input!
I can appreciate that folks can't get past Lucinda's 'ragged but real' voice...I think Car Wheels is a flawless CD, and Lucinda kicks it live. Here's a freebie live show (2 hours worth) that you can stream online, it's a recent show and she plays some of the 24 new songs she has in the can: https://www.npr.org/programs/asc/archives/graylucinda_live05/
Irritating and strangely joyless. Guess someone really did take her joy. For all our sakes, I hope she recovers it.
There are, as I remember, only two times that I've jumped up to shut off RP. The first was when my puppy chewed through the modem power supply. The second is when this song came on. Awful.
Compared to the park just across the state line in Mississippi where I tried to camp once, Slidell (and its Motel 6) is pretty damn joyful. And I love this song.
You took my choy and I want it bok...
melissa wrote:
I picked up Lucinda's Live at the Fillmore CD not too long ago. This song ROCKS on that album. Great guitar and gritty vocals as only Lucinda can deliver... although I'm still not convinced she can find her joy in Slidell.
I don't know that her joy is in Slidell either, but the cd you mentions kicks major ass. If ya like it, the vinyl is gorgeous sounding.
I picked up Lucinda's Live at the Fillmore CD not too long ago. This song ROCKS on that album. Great guitar and gritty vocals as only Lucinda can deliver... although I'm still not convinced she can find her joy in Slidell.
Am I the only one that could care less either way for the voice and gets joy instead from the slide guitar? /Is it wrong to like the rock part of eclectic rock?
robinesque wrote:
I think her joy comes from music, not romance. I think this is sung to a record company, not a man. Maybe West Memphis and Slidell represent a kind of music to her.
Have you ever been to West Memphis? What a dump!
I do not get the Lucinda Williams love. At all.
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, tho, the album, is great. This is the weakest track.
zaknafein wrote:
It's not entirely clear to me whether it is joy, or choy she is seeking.
I thought it was her toy...whatever it is WHOMEVER HAS IT PLEASE RETURN IT ASAP my ears hurt
I love Lucinda's raw and honest delivery on most of her stuff, but this is my least favorite song of hers. Here the lyrics are a bit inane and don't support the roughness of the delivery.
I saw her in San Diego last night. The shortest concert I can recall. 9:30 to 10:30. The venue has a pretty hard time limit, but one hour (with no encore, I've heard) was pretty disappointing.
orionblu wrote:
omg someone give her her joy back, quick, she's driving me nuts.
My though exactly. With a harsh nagging whine like that, I bet she's the reason her joy took off in the first place.
Even funnier I have a colleague named Mike Choi. He laughed uproariously when I suggested that Lucinda might be singing about him! zaknafein wrote:
It's not entirely clear to me whether it is joy, or choy she is seeking.
zaknafein wrote:
It's not entirely clear to me whether it is joy, or choy she is seeking.
thanks for the levity, mate ... some people take this stuff way too seriously.
omg someone give her her joy back, quick, she's driving me nuts.
Trustocity wrote:
...man-hating BITCH...
BGGA wrote:
Lucinda Williams = Man HATER... this is the jilted woman's anthem...
I think her joy comes from music, not romance. I think this is sung to a record company, not a man. Maybe West Memphis and Slidell represent a kind of music to her.
one of the best CDs of the 90s, but this isn't one of the better tracks.
Someone took her joy and now nobody can have any. MAKE IT STOP!
randomprime wrote:
Lucinda? Yes.
Ah-ha. A Lucinda lover. Well met. But no, I didn't mean the artists, I meant the character in the art. There's a big different between, for example, Robert Smith and the kid getting eaten by the spiderman.
Can you imagine taking the girl in this song on a date? "Sorry about dinner, Steve. I didn't mean to be such a flaming, ranting, hate-drenched man-hating BITCH all night. I wish I could say it was hormones, but I'm probably a bit demon-possessed. I promise I'll be better next time. Call me."
pilate wrote:
WHY, oh why does she sing the way she sings? SOME ONE PLEASE GIVE HER THAT FRIGGIN' JOY THING
PLEASE!
Lucinda Williams = Man HATER... gawd, this woman is pissed off, but why must *I* suffer for her rotten mistakes. This song is HORRIBLE... this is the jilted woman's anthem. Please, make her stop... my ears are bleeding.
<-X
Messdaddy wrote:
Yeah, okay, I love Lucinda but this one is not on MY playlist.
Same here.
It's not entirely clear to me whether it is joy, or choy she is seeking.
If she ain't found her joy by now, she ain't gonna....
A more apt title for this would be "Joyless". Fookin dreadful.
I have tried to think of why this song is so annoying. I think I have the answer: the lyrics are sung like a nursery rhyme. Sing-songy. Does that make sense? Hard to explain. However, I would like her to shut up. Then we could just enjoy the guitar solos without the drecky sing-song-singing.
Remove the vocals. Completely. Then this would be a decent song. Good guitar work.
Yeah, okay, I love Lucinda but this one is not on MY playlist.
WHY, oh why does she sing the way she sings? SOME ONE PLEASE GIVE HER THAT FRIGGIN' JOY THING
Oh man, it's happening again...a tune I've previously gritted my teeth over or just plain turned off has begun to be bearable and, dare I say it, slightly enjoyable. Help...is that my foot tapping? Radio Paradise what are you doing to me?!
so absolutely awful. ugh!
eyelykearrpee wrote:
Somebody give her her damn toy back. :x
and someone please take Bill's Joy away, and never let himplay it again!! <-o<
Somebody give her her damn toy back. :x
Wow, joy rhymes with joy.
The list of Songs That Are Tolerable Only During Liquid Encouragement has just gained another entry.
JrzyTmata wrote:
there's plenty of joy in my mute button
Check it out, my mute button is full of joy too!!
Nope, Slidell has no joy....
Love her, haaaaaaaaaate this. :P
rpm wrote:
amazing how most people dislike this song. I really like it!
Rock on. This is one of my favorites by Lucinda.
Love Lucinda, but this song is by far her worst one ever......unfortunate
I like this. It's gutteral, bluesey Southern female angst. I feel it. I guess it's a Southern "thang."
Having heard this song live recently, after a painful breakup, made all of the difference to me about it. Before, when things were all sweetness and light in my life, I didn't really get it. Now, it's powerful.
This song is fantastic; I can't imagine anyone with open musical ears not appreciating it at least a little.
I'm sure it's on purpose, but her voice in this song is so gritty and ugly, I can't stand it.