Arlene

Album: Farmer's Daughter (2010)
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Songfacts®:

  • This closing track from 2010 American Idol runner up Crystal Bowersox' debut album features the singer's longtime bandmate and friend Frankie May playing bass. The bassist's father, Bob May, is one of Bowersox's musical mentors.
  • Bowersox explained the story behind the song in an interview with Artist Direct: "'Arlene' was the tour bus driver this summer on the American Idol tour. When I couldn't sleep, I spent many nights in the front of the cab and had some really good talks with her. She was an inspirational, strong, independent woman and a role model to me. She told me she's been 'rock 'n' roll trucking' for 30 years and no one's ever written a song for her, so I did! I'm really happy it made it on the album. Arlene made sure we got from point A to B and B to C, and she was there for counsel as well.

    It's also the song that I feel is the closet to my roots musically. My friend Ryan Suzuka played harmonica. My bass player Frankie May who I've played with since high school is on that track as well. That song is very sentimental to me. I think the statement in the song, 'If you want it done right, you've got to do it yourself,' is about being strong as a man or a woman. It's about living a simple life and loving it. I even wrote the song on that tour around the beginning of August."
  • Want some more songs inspired by or about bus drivers? You've come to the right place – check out:
    Barbados by Typically Tropical.
    Civil Twilight by The Weakerthans.
    Dirty Frank by Pearl Jam.
    Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street by Bruce Springsteen.

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