EXPRESSWAY TO YR. SKULL
   
Originally Released on:

EVOL

also appears on:

  • Starpower single (edit)
  • Walls Have Ears (live '85)
  • Live in Texas (live '86)
  • Hold That Tiger (live '87)
  • Live in Columbus video (live '85)
  • 1991: The Year Punk Broke (live '91)
  • Screaming Fields of Sonic Love
  • MIX TAPE #1

Line-up:
Thurston - guitar/vocals
Kim - bass
Lee - guitar
Steve Shelley - drums

Lyrics   status: confirmed

We're gonna kill the California girls
We're gonna fire the exploding load
In the milkmaid maidenhead
We're gonna find the meaning of feeling good
And we're gonna stay there
As long as we think we should
Mystery train
Three way plane
Expressway to your skull
Mystery train
Three way plane
Expressway to your skull
Mystery train
Three way plane
Expressway...
...to your skull.

Track length: 7:19

First Known Performance: 06/12/85
Last Known Performance:  02/24/07

NOTES:

  • One of the first songs written with Steve.
  • The original EVOL LP had a locked groove at the end of Expressway, so the song played infinitely (on the label of the LP, the track's time is indicated w/ an infinity symbol).
  • Titled "Madonna, Sean and Me" on the back cover of EVOL. Titled "The Crucifixion of Sean Penn" on the lyric sheet on the record sleeve/CD liners.
  • Recorded in 1985 w/ Wharton Tiers for a session that was later given to DJ John Peel to be broadcast as a Peel Session in 1986.
  • It gathers dust from time to time, but is pretty much a staple of SY's sets for the past 20 years. Jim played guitar on this while he was in the band (or, sometimes, accordian!).
  • A live version from the August '91 tour was included on the first web-only 'Mix Tape'.

ALTERNATE VERSIONS:

  • On "Starpower" single - EDIT - ?

    Edit version of EVOL track, I believe the song stops during the "pause" before the final jam.

  • On "Live in Columbus" - LIVE - ?

    Recorded live on 8/1/85 in Columbus, Ohio @ Stache's. The first known live performance! Released on Atavistic video.

  • On "Walls Have Ears" - LIVE - ?

    Recorded live on 10/30/85 @ University of London.

  • On "Live in Texas" - LIVE - 8:07

    Recorded live on 4/12/86 in Austin, Texas @ the Continental Club. Listed as "Expressway [cut]" because, well, it's cut.

  • On "Hold That Tiger" - LIVE - 4:32

    Recorded live on 10/14/87 at the Cabaret Metro in Chicago, Illinois. Preceded by Thurston's remark "I have no desire to fuck Jessica Hahn but I would like to kill Jim Bakker".

  • On "The Year Punk Broke" - LIVE - 9:08

    Recorded live on 9/1/91 in Rotterdam, Holland. The final show, final song of the tour. Also note that an unlisted 1:25 excerpt from the coda of Expressway (possibly taken from 8/27/91 Bremen) appears between "I Love Her..." and Gumball's "Pre".

  • On "Mix Tape #1" - LIVE - 9:13

    From the same tour.