Burning Van Jan 20th 7:00 PM

Hope everyone is having a good time at the RTR! We're in Florida and are missing seeing all of our friends and meeting the new people. :-(

  I thought some of you might enjoy the short history of Burning Van.  Many years ago back in 2016 Beth, also knowns as the RTR button maker, had a large cardboard box that she wanted to dispose of. Tony and I just happened to be out on one of our daily rambles and offered to take it.  Hmmm - what to do with a big box - burn it! But first cut it into a van shape and decorate it. We have no problem with borrowing ideas from other gatherings, lol.

  As the idea progressed we added a song and decided to burn the cardboard van to mark the end of the RTR. Last year we built a small van from plywood and added music played by two great RTR musicians Van Man Dave and JR from Iowa.Sassy is in charge of Burning Van this year. I'm sure she'll have some new additions!

 Of course we ran the idea by Bob first. While Bob is responsible for creating and promoting this wonderful event (Thanks! We've made so many good friends and had so much fun!)  each of the participants is responsible for their own experience at the RTR. It's almost an organic thing at times with a small seed of an idea growing into something bigger - music camp, mindful camp, art camp, seminars on all kinds of things lead by whoever wants to, button making, a bullitin board, coney hot dog night  - if you have an idea give it a try!

 Hope most of you make it to Burning Van. Here are the words sung to Willie Nelson's On the Road Again

 In our vans again
Just can't wait to get in our vans again
The life we love is in the desert with our friends
And we can't wait to get in our vans again

In our vans again
Goin places that most haven't been
Goin places we may never go again
And we can't wait to get in our vans again

Rubber tramps again
Like a band of gypsies we go down to Quartzsite
We'll see Bob again
We'll share our tales at campfires in the night time
Warm fire time


Well our vans are small
We have no spaces left upon the wall
But they're our homes and we're as happy as can be
Our vans are how we're living oh so free

Burn that van again
Like a blazing symbol it lights up the night sky
And we all will cheer
Cause simple pleasures seem to be the best ones
With good friends


Burn that van again
Just can't wait to burn up that van again
It marks the end of our stay here in Quartzsite town
But next year we'll be coming back again
And we can't wait to get in our vans again

Who wrote the lyrics? They're very well done.

Would it be helpful if I recorded it and put it on YouTube for people to get used to the alternate lyrics?

Willie gets most of the credit. The new lyrics were a collaboration by a small group of us.
You play guitar and sing! Recording the song and putting it on YouTube would be very helpful because, as you can tell, most of the people singing in either year were not professional singers. Also if you would like to play at Burning Van get in touch with Sassy or Van Man Dave.

Jude is going to post the lyrics on the bulletin board so that people can take a picture and sing along.

tonyandkaren said:

Willie gets most of the credit. The new lyrics were a collaboration by a small group of us.
You play guitar and sing! Recording the song and putting it on YouTube would be very helpful because, as you can tell, most of the people singing in either year were not professional singers. Also if you would like to play at Burning Van get in touch with Sassy or Van Man Dave.

Jude is going to post the lyrics on the bulletin board so that people can take a picture and sing along.

Click to expand...

Cool. I'm working on it now. It won't be as high of quality as a recording in the RollChording Studio, but it should get the job done.

Here's the link to the video. Let me know what you think. It's a little out of my vocal range and I just threw it together today, so I'm open to making adjustments if you think it needs some work.

Thanks! It sounds good! The more people who sing along at Burning Van the better it will be. I'm looking forward to the videos!

Would it be possible to get the names of the people who wrote the RTR-version lyrics? I'd like to give them credit in the video description if possible.

I'll ask everyone and get back to you.