Guitar Town by Steve Earle

Album: Guitar Town (1986)

License This Song

artistfacts

Songfacts®:

"Guitar Town" is the CB handle for the city of Nashville, which is where Earle got the title.
Earle said: "I saw Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on the Born In The USA tour, and it dawned on me; he opened with 'Born In The U.S.A.,' and it was like this, that's what I need to do! I need to write a beginning and an end for this record and then the rest of the songs will fall in to place. So, I wrote 'Guitar Town' specifically to open the record and open the show.

I spent the early part of the '80s touring in a van, getting chased down Black Mountain Pass by a U-Haul trailer. Truck drivers, or anybody that travels for a living, relate to that line... the motel tan is no tan at all." >>
Suggestion credit:
Brian - Indiana, IN, for above 2
Earle had no idea this song would become so popular. "I just thought I was writing a song that was going to open my tour and open my record," he told Songfacts. "It had such a utilitarian reason to exist for me that I thought that was it. So I was shocked when they made it a single and shocked when it was a hit."

Comments: 5

John from TexasKeith from Kentucky, it when Steve hitch hiked from San antonio to nashville, he left with his Yamaha guitar and $17. He made it to his grandmother in Jacksonville TX and she gave him $20. They made him change it to "Jap" for the music video for concerns of being offensive to Japanese people.
Dan from CanadaI believe that early in his career Earle mostly played a Takamine guitar, made in Japan, and I imagine he got a lot of negative feedback in those early days from “purists” who felt that real country required an American built instrument. i.e, “you won’t get far with a […] Jap guitar”. So, it was an anti-racist ironic observation by Earle, really, but too subtle/clever for the masses. So a sanitized version changed the wording to “cheap guitar”. Great songwriter, tremendous talent in many fields. I really enjoyed his first novel.
Chris from Farmingdale, NyMaybe Steve felt his talent wasn't enough and had to appeal to the racist element. Yes, they have guitars all over the world.
Keith from Kentuckywhen I first heard this song the line was "verybody told me you can't get far on $37 and a "cheap" guitar, why did it become a jap guitar and do they have guitars i n Japan?
Andy Roper from Evansville In Been enjoying your music since you’ve put it out

see more comments

More Songfacts:

PhotographEd Sheeran

Ed Sheeran thought he wrote the x track "Photograph" on 6th Street in Denver, so he got a tattoo saying 6 ST. But when he returned it turned out the street was actually 6th Avenue.

Soul Bossa NovaQuincy Jones

The Austin Powers theme is "Soul Bossa Nova," written by Quincy Jones in 1962 - the same year the first James Bond movie was released.

Harry Patch (In Memory Of)Radiohead

Radiohead's "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)" is about the last surviving World War I veteran to fight in the trenches.

She's A RainbowThe Rolling Stones

It was never a big hit, but "She's A Rainbow" became one of the most popular Rolling Stones songs in the digital age when it started showing up in commercials (iMac, Photoshop), and TV shows (American Horror Story: Coven, Ted Lasso).