Dick Curless – Tombstone Every Mile

“A Tombstone Every Mile” is a song written by Dan Fulkerson and recorded by American country music artist Dick Curless. It was released in January 1965 as the lead single from the album of the same name. The song stayed at number five for two weeks and spent a total of seventeen weeks on the chart. The song refers to the “Haynesville Woods”, an area around the small town of Haynesville in Aroostook County in northern Maine noted for many automobile crashes. Truck drivers would ship potatoes to market in Boston and a dangerous hairpin turn in the route through Haynesville was the inspiration for the song.

From the album Tombstone Every Mile
Released January 1965
Genre Country
Length 2:56
Label Tower
Songwriter(s) Dan Fulkerson
Producer(s) Dan Fulkerson Dick Curless

Dick Curless – Tombstone Every Mile lyrics

All you big and burely men who roll the trucks along
Better listen you’ll be thankful when you hear my song
You have really got it made if you’re haulin’ goods
Anyplace on earth but those Haynesville Woods
It’s a stretch of road up north in Maine
That’s never ever ever seen a smile
If they’d buried all them truckers lost in them woods
There’d be a tombstone every mile
Count ’em off there’d be a tombstone every mile
[ guitar ]
When you’re loaded with potatoes and you’re headed down
You’ve got to drive the woods to get to Boston town
When it’s winter up in Maine better check it over twice
That Haynesville road is just a ribbon of ice
It’s a stretch of road up north in Maine…
[ piano ]
When you’re talking to a trucker that’s been haulin’ goods
Down that stretch of road in Maine they call the Haynesville Woods
He’ll tell you that dying and going down below
Won’t be half as bad as driving on that road of ice and snow
It’s a stretch of road up north in Maine…