Met hun mateloze fantasie hebben de kolonisatoren overal in de Verenigde Staten dezelfde plaatsnamen uitgedeeld. Het grootste Cairo van de VS ligt in de zuidpunt van Illinois en daarover gaat The road to Cairo uiteraard, niet over de hoofdstad van Egypte.
Het origineel blijkt van een mij tot nu onbekende zanger, David Ackles. Zo leert men steeds bij.
A fella told me
This here road leads to Cairo
I got to get me a ride
I got to go back
Go back to my children
I got to see my little bride
(…my man, Driscoll)
I been traveling
Gone a long long time
Don’t know what I’ll find
Scared of what I’ll find
But I just got to see them again
Hey thanks for stopping
Are you headed down to Cairo?
I wrecked my Lincoln in Saint Jo
Why to little old Cairo?
No special reason
Look up some folks I used to know
Me I travel some
Have my share of fun
Now that’s a life a man can live
Sure I’ve played and lost
But who minds the cost
You got to take more than you give
Hey you got another cigar?
Son I sure like this car
Oh from your daddy as a gift
Say on second thought
There’s gifts I haven’t bought
Just drop me here
Thanks for the lift
Yes I’ve traveled some
Yes I’ve been a bum
Never have a dime for gin
Left to make my way
Told her I can’t stay
To see my children poor as sin
I know this road
It leads straight into Cairo
Twenty-two miles straight ahead
I can’t walk down this road to Cairo
They’re better thinking I’m dead
I been traveling
Gone a long long time
Don’t know what I’d find
Scared of what I’d find
I can’t I just can’t walk down this road
1968
Julie Driscoll & the Brian Auger Trinity, 1968
