Thus spake Brewer and Shipley in their song "Tarkio Road".
"Tarkio Road" is about freedom and the restrictions placed upon it circa 1970 for many young people who were redefining personal expression in the United States.
After moving to Kansas City in 1968, Brewer and Shipley toured often over a particular stretch of highway through northwestern Missouri that connected numerous small college towns, including an early date at the Mule Barn in Tarkio, Missouri. That route became known as their "Tarkio Road". It was a mother! Along with its share of hair-raising tales of redneck encounters and nosy police, slapstick mishaps and bad sound systems, the two long-haired troubadours also found acceptance for their songwriting talents and took advantage of the otherwise friendly midwestern climes to hone their music.
...
"There was a town in Missouri called Tarkio where we used to play, up in the northwest corner of the state," Mike explains. "We played a lot of colleges in Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas and it seems like whenever we had to play one of those colleges we had to take this highway that we wound up calling Tarkio Road."
The above quote is in reference to the previous line about Abby Hoffman and Jerry Rubin;
"Abby and rube been lying in jail, learning 'bout the price of being free"
Damn long haired DFHs spreading evil subversive music to the college youth.
In September of 1968 (IIRC) on my way back from being AWOL, I visited my brother who was stationed at Naval Air Station Olathe just outside of Kansas City MO. He took me to the Vanguard Coffee House in KC where Brewer and Shipley were playing that night.
My one degree of separation.
Lyrics
Tarkio Road
(Brewer & Shipley)
Movin' on down the Tarkio Road
Headed up to Crete Nebraska
Trying my best to set the highway on fire
But my bicycle won't go no faster
Tarkio Road is a mother
It's just like oh so many other
Where the children reject you
And the police suspect you
Looking inside the trunk under the hood hopin' to find
The secret places where you always keep your mind
Woah woah no Tarkio Road
Abby and rube been lying in jail
Learning 'bout the price of being free
Trying to live the constituional life
But being held back by hypocrisy
Carry the load my brother
Your just like oh so many other
Who the children reject it
And the police suspect it
You’re tied to the chair manacled and bound and gagged
Is that your face on the American flag
Woah woah no carry the load
I'm singing Tarkio Tarkio Road
Tarkio Tarkio Road
Tarkio Tarkio Road
Tarkio Tarkio Road
If your looking for some trouble
You can find it on the Tarkio Road
24 hours of barbed wire fence
55 years of pollution
Everyone knows how the puzzle was laid
But can anyone recall the solution
Tarkio Road is a mother
It's just like oh so many others
Where the people infect you
But they never elect you
No reason or cause that you may have perfectly sound
The blind look is gonna try and cut it down
Woah woah no Tarkio Road
I'm singing again Tarkio Tarkio Road
Tarkio Tarkio Road
Tarkio Tarkio Road
Tarkio Tarkio Road
If your looking for some trouble
You can find it on the Tarkio Road