Here’s a great, ramshackle country song that rolls along on the momentum of its melody, sung by a certain Evan Dando. As songwriter Nic Dalton explains, the song came about when ex Lemonheads bassist Jesse Peretz asked Dalton to compose a song for a short film of his. From one Lemonheads bassist to the next, this is how ‘Six Years From Crying‘ came to be…

In mid-1992, Jesse Peretz asked me to write the theme song for a short film he was finishing up called Six Hours From Cleveland. I’d replaced Jesse as bass player in the Lemonheads but I spent a lot of time with Jesse as he took most of the band photos, directed most of our film clips and, more importantly, took me boxer short shopping when I first stayed with him in New York. “You can’t wear those!” he said one day to me when I was getting changed and he saw my skimpy briefs all the way from down under. Jesse was my best mate during that time. 

After seeing a rough cut of the film, which starred the Lemonheads soulmate Polly Noonan, I still had no idea what sort of song to write. But then geography hit home! Since the band were touring a lot around the States, I realised we’d be driving into Cleveland from whatever previous gig was the night before. I asked our van driver to let me know when we were “six hours from Cleveland”. 

“Right about now, Dallon Dallon!” the driver said. I got out my song book and started writing, taking in the nearby Susquehanna River, a town called Amity Hall and even referencing Cleveland’s finest Eric Carmen. Done! Then who better to sing a rollicking country song than Evan Dando – putting on his best Cash convertor – which he did when we were next back in Boston, recording the song at Fort Apache.

– Nic Dalton

Recorded at Fort Apache by Lou Giordano 1992. Evan Dando: vocals and guitar / Nic Dalton: guitar and bass. Written by Nic Dalton. Theme song for “Six Hours From Cleveland”, a short film by Jesse Peretz, USA 1992. Previously released on a cd included with Eddie magazine, December 1993 and Milk This Catalogue, a Universal Music Publishing promotional cd from 1999.