L.A. Freeway

Clark wrote "L.A. Freeway" alone. Jerry Jeff Walker recorded it first, on his self-titled MCA album, and released it as a single in May 1973 backed with "Charlie Dunn"; it reached number 98 on the Hot 100 that July. Clark's own version is the second track on Old No. 1 (1975), 4:43 long, recorded at RCA Studio B in Nashville with Neil Wilburn producing. A blog puts Walker's recording in 1972, which the song's Wikipedia page does not.

Where and when it was written is also contested. The song's Wikipedia page says he wrote it in 1970, a few months after moving from California to Nashville. A blog account has it written in a small, rundown Los Angeles apartment where the Clarks wanted to go back to Texas, with the idea arriving while driving on the freeway and the lyrics scribbled on a paper bag. An unverified summary of an American Songwriter feature gives a third version, a drive home from a gig in San Diego and a line written on a hamburger sack with Susanna's eyeliner. The sources agree that it came from the Los Angeles years and that Clark wrote ideas down as soon as he had them.

It is the song he played most: setlist.fm counts 36 performances across 275 setlists. It was one of the songs he performed for Heartworn Highways, filmed in late 1975 and early 1976. Later covers include Steve Earle, reported in February 2019 on the tribute album Guy, and Ryan Bingham, in June 2021. The version we hold is only labeled "L.A. Freeway", so which recording it is has not been determined.