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"Forty Miles of Bad Road" is a rock and roll instrumental recorded by Duane Eddy. Released as a single in 1959, it also appeared on Eddy's 1960 album $1,000,000 Worth of Twang.
| "Forty Miles of Bad Road" | |
|---|---|
| Single by Duane Eddy, His 'Twangy' Guitar and the Rebels | |
| from the album $1,000,000 Worth of Twang[1] | |
| B-side | "The Quiet Three" |
| Released | May 1959 |
| Genre | Instrumental rock |
| Length | 2:10 |
| Label | Jamie |
| Songwriter(s) |
|
Duane told Oldies Radio DJ "Wild" Wayne that the title came about when he and his producer Lee Hazlewood were waiting in line to buy tickets at a movie theatre. They overheard two guys in front of them discussing a blind date that one of them just had. One asked the other as to how the blind date went. His friend replied that it was ok but the girl had a face that looked like "forty miles of bad road". Duane and Lee looked at each other and said we have the title of our next record.
The song charted at #9 on the Pop chart.[2] "Forty Miles of Bad Road" also went to #17 on the Hot R&B Sides chart.[3]
| Chart (1959) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada (CHUM Chart)[4](2wks@4) | 4 |
| UK Singles (The Official Charts Company)[5] | 11 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 9 |
| US Billboard Hot R&B Sides | 17 |
- The idiom is referenced in the lyrics of the R.E.M. song "Crush with Eyeliner": "She's a sad tomato/She's three miles of bad road".
- It is also referenced in Bob Dylan's 2000 Academy Award winning song "Things Have Changed": "I've been walking forty miles of bad road/If the Bible is right, the world will explode."[6]
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