| R.E.M. – Driver 8 Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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@[DerUnbequeme:21996] You are overthinking it. Having lived in Athens for many years, I can tell you that one is most likely to hear trains late at night. So think of ghost riders, night riders (sometimes a euphemism for the KKK). So the train is essentially darkness- which he contrasts with the world outside the train- clearly there is trouble in the engineer's room- takde a break, we'll get there, this trip feels like its never going to end. Yet theres all this life going on outside the train- sky blue bells (he indulges himself in a bit of synesthesia there to make a point). So the train is maybe death? Driver 8 might be the devil or the grim reaper and the conductor maybe even a guy who doesnt know hes already. Its a very southern song from a very southern album. And if you go there and spend any time at all many if not all of the songs' meanings start to become quite clear. Some of the songs are 'maps' and some are 'legends' (he's playing with double meanings there- legends- stories- are the spiritual and social material that binds each generation- one to the next. For example: Old Man Kensey is a legend- can't get there from here and Feeling Gravity's Pull are maps. Also, maps have legends. In fact most maps would be of little use without them, They tell you how to read the map. So i see the song as a mystery train number. Something untowards is going down on that train. And the conductor is just trying to get back to his family- casting around for an exit, or could it be that he traded his soul_- remember we're in legend time here- and the conductor is maybe discovering that the payment of his mortality is coming do. I tend to think of the Driver as death itself. Which is why you don't hear from him in the song. And aside from the children hearing the sky- which is brilliant contrasting, the ourside world maybe isnt so peachy either: "field to wheat is looking thin" and i think the conductor is sort of absently notiing these things as the trainclatters along to doom, Finally listen to the guitar riff. Thats not a happy melody_ the key of E-minor I believe; "the saddest of all possible keys." Its got nothing to do with better societies or perfect worlds. |
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