“I think this is maybe the closest I'll ever come to writing a love song.... or a song about cars.

Started out with the line about "Pico...". I was sitting outside the Unurban in Santa Monica waiting to start a gig when I looked "to the LA sky". Saw all those planes & got suddenly nostalgic for Australian stars & true deep country black night.”

Out on the Blacktop                                                                                                    Tune:GsusC

Full moon bright

Road like a ribbon

Straight ahead through the night.

And you drew close beside me

In the dashlight glow

Trees in the distance

Seemed to pass by real slow

And we’d ease through the small towns

And sometimes pull in

We’d catch our breath

Air smelt like gasoline

Then out of the station

Back into the night

Past rows of dark houses

With their windows shut tight

Down in the long grass

Way down low

The wind curled around us

Left nothin’ to show

There ain’t nothin’ but stars

In the sky above

We counted ‘em all

We counted on love.

(chorus) Stars shine only for dreamers

And dreams, never come true

It’s been so long, down the blacktop & gone

Yeah, I still love you too

Yeah I still love you too.

Now I’m out here on Pico

Look to the LA sky

There’s hardly a star

Just some planes flyin’ by.

I tune my guitar

And I start to play

Think of the words

Things that I’m gonna say

And I’ve got some love songs

And songs about booze

Those things you pick up

That you just can’t lose

There’s a song about driving

In the ebony night

In the high-beam crossfire                                                                                                                                         

Sometimes we’d drive without lights