This actually happened while I was typing this – there was originally a “D” where the “S” is in song. Damn fat fingers.
1988, Leetown, WV. Leetown is just a mailing address, the closest city of any consequence was Martinsburg, tucked up in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. There’s a neat road there, US 340, that if you follow it, you can be in 3 states in 3 minutes. You start in WV, cross a river into VA, and then about 500 feet later, cross the same river into MD.
I had my first “real” job there at the ripe young age of 18, working at a factory that produced computer paper, the old-school fanfold kind. It’s hard to describe the machine. I couldn’t find a picture of one, but basically two gigantic rolls of paper go on one end, and computer paper comes out the other, perfectly punched, perforated and printed. Lots of “P” jokes. The machine doesn’t stop when the roll runs out — there’s a big ‘web’ of paper from the roll, that when the roll runs out, the machine uses the paper from this slack, splices the new roll on, and continues on. Then you change the depleted roll while the machine’s running. Nice job for a strapping 18-year old.
I used to listen to this song on my old tape walkman while riding my bike to and from this job.
The Night Driver 