She lets him know that he was picked up by a “ghost driver,” and that ten years earlier, at the very same intersection where he was picked up, Big Joe swerved to avoid hitting a school bus full of children.























All rights and most lefts reserved.



Tom Waits (born Thomas Alan Waits, in Pomona, California, on December 7, 1949) is a prolific American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor.









Ini…

Tom Waits (born Thomas Alan Waits, in Pomona, California, on December 7, 1949) is a prolific American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor.











Rather than plowing into the back of the two vehicles stopped, he crashed the tanker into the bridge abutment.

Repeat: C/Em/F/G/ - C/Em/F/G/C / C Em F G I was out on the West Coast, tryin' to make a buck C Em F G And things didn't work out, I was down on my luck C Em F G Got tired a-roamin' and bummi







Content.

This version was covered by

The song was covered by dozens of artists afterward, including Jack Bond, Dave Dudley and John Waits.The song is a first-person narrative by a hitchhiker, who’s trying to return home from the West Coast.







Little did Trudelle know that there was a car stopped under the bridge, where it was waiting for a school bus to pick up children.There was no way Trudelle could stop.





















































Red Sovine released the song “Phantom 309” in 1967, almost a decade before CB truckin’ songs became unavoidable.





About 10 seconds after the passengers and driver got out, the bus burst into flames.







Let us know what you think of the Last.fm website.



























(To establish mood for the studio audience, Waits refers to the studio as "Raphael's Silver Cloud Lounge" on the album's first track).













He got worseIf you need a tub of margarine, a spatula, and the dubious assistance of a giggling friend to squeeze into your old team jersey, it's time to step up to some kit that fits.

















The song tells of a hitchhiker (the singer, in first person) trying to return home from the West Coast.On the third day of his trip, while at a crossroads in a driving rain, the hitchhiker is picked up by "Big Joe" driving his tractor-trailer named "Phantom 309." Oh, good. Trudelle passed under the bridge, where a blind spot impeded drivers as they went into a dip.



Do you know any background info about this track?



He started his career in the early 1970s as a …





https://www.last.fm/music/Tom+Waits/_/Big+Joe+And+Phantom+309



















Initially, he was deeply influenced by the beat generation, novelists like