I was driving home, listening to the radio, and the usual thing starts happening. My mind wanders through connections suggested by the lyrics.

Seen a man standin’ over a dead dog lyin’ by the highway in a ditch 
He’s lookin’ down kinda puzzled pokin’ that dog with a stick 
Got his car door flung open he’s standin’ out on highway 31 
Like if he stood there long enough that dog’d get up and run 
Struck me kinda funny seem kinda funny sir to me 
Still at the end of every hard day people find some reason to believe

-Bruce Springsteen, “Reason to Believe”

“Highway 31?” sounds like “Highway 41.”

My father was a gambler down in Georgia
He wound up on the wrong end of a gun
And I was born in the back seat of a Greyhound bus
Rollin’ down highway forty-one

-Richard Betts, “Ramblin’ Man”

..which then takes me to ..

Oh God said to Abraham, “Kill me a son”
Abe says, “Man, you must be puttin’ me on”
God say, “No.” Abe say, “What?”
God say, “You can do what you want Abe, but
The next time you see me comin’ you better run”
Well Abe says, “Where do you want this killin’ done?”
God says, “Out on Highway 61”

-Bob Dylan, “Highway 61 Revisited”

Highway 61 runs from Duluth, MN all the way to New Orleans, and at the junction of 61 and 49 in Mississippi is the crossroad where Robert Johnson was said to have sold his soul to the devil for talent and fame. The story that is the basis for the easily forgettable Ralph Machio movie, “Crossroads.”

On Highway 61 in Mississippi, is the town of Panther Burn, which I only know because of this scene in “Blues Brothers 2000” as it allegedly takes place five miles north.

My second favorite song from Blues Brothers 2000 (favorite being “Ghostriders in the Sky”) is Blues Traveler “Maybe I’m Wrong.”

I want to show you that anything is possible
I want to show you that your wildest dreams can come true
And I swear someday I’m gonna figure out how to do just that
But until then, I guess trying is all I can do
Maybe I’m wrong thinking you want something better
Maybe I’m wrong thinking you got no problem making it through the night
Maybe I’m wrong about every little thing I’m talking about
Maybe I’m wrong, but just maybe, maybe I’m right

-John C. Popper, “Maybe I’m Wrong”

and then as “Reason to Believe” is finishing, I connect to the other song of the same name

If I listened long enough to you
I’d find a way to believe that it’s all true
Knowing that you lied straight faced while I cried
Still I look to find a reason to believe

Someone like you makes it hard to live
Without somebody else
Someone like you makes it easy to give
Never thinking of myself

-Tim Hardin, “Reason to Believe”

And then another song plays, and a new cascade of thought might begin.