Radar Love

So basically, the singer is driving to be with his baby; they have an almost psychic connection and he knows she misses him too.

This knowledge is making him reckless - "there's a voice in my head that drives my heel" (on the accelerator) - and he's been driving all night, so anxious that the wheel is covered in sweat.

He passes a long line of cars (presumably on a two-lane highway, from what comes next) and the last line we hear that's in the first-person voice is "Last car to pass, here I go!"

Then we go into an ending that twists earlier lines: "And the line of cars drove down real slow" - a funeral procession "And the newsman sang his same old song One more Radar love has gone" - the singer has died in a car crash that was aired on the news, all before he got to see the lover he was driving towards.

It's a more subtle dead lover song than most, and it does have a great tune.

BloodReign, I don't think the driver is suffering from anything else than love...

i think that if were my boyfriend i would see this song as a letter type thing to my girlfriend saying that.. she's all i need and all i'll ever need... this song is badass..and i luv it to death... :-) -Pö£ô-

It makes me proud to be a Dutchman!!

All of my speeding tickets for going over 100mph have been caused by this song. turtonhot said it best Classic Rock At It's Best.

She sends a cable coming in from above Don't need no phone at all We've got a thing that's called: Radar love We've got a wave in the air Radar love

(like nothing and no one else ...)

We've got a wave in the air, We've got a line in the sky

Maybe they have a unique way of expressing their love.

Radar Love is the opening song of the “Continuing Story of Radar Love”. If you listen closely to all the lyrics across all the songs, you’ll notice Golden Earring is telling a story where each song fills in a piece of that story. Though each individual song has its own deeper meanings and metaphors, the songs are interconnected at a basic level.

Radar Love sets the scene and illustrates a relationship between a man and his lover. All is going well in his life and he feels this connection to this person in his life, though she’s far away and he has to drive all night to get to her.

In the second song, “The Vanilla Queen” the author meets a stripper named Candy and he instantly falls for her. He becomes wrapped up in her beauty. He realizes her past and knows it’s her job to seduce men and make them feel wanted. However, he falls for her anyway and she makes him feel different.

“Candy’s Going Bad” goes back in time and tells us who Candy is and where she came from. To rebel against her strict upbringing, she got involved in the seedy nightlife of strip clubs. Her dad claimed he would beat her if she came home dressed in her “stripper outfit” again and he mother begged her to “quit the show”. She eventually quit the show. However, she didn’t care “when she started her affair with the studs and mares of the night.” She met a pimp named Teddy. She got involved in the world of prostitution and eventually moved out on her own using men to survive.

Throughout the next few songs, the relationship between the author and Candy evolves and eventually in “Clear Night Moonlight” the author asks Candy to run away with him. He tells her not to turn his dream into a nightmare. He says “don’t say no.”

She says no.

“Lost and Found” is a song about how the author feels used by Candy and how she completely tore out his heart. He opens the song defending him emotions, saying he’s not an object; something you throw away. I believe Lost and Found is a metaphor for the loss of one love, and how he found himself and recognized that he had thrown away what he had in the first place; his true love, someone who loved him back.

“The Devil Made me Do It” is probably my favorite song on the album. The author has realized what he has done wrong, and the stage is set in the form of a court trial taking place in the author’s head. He claims the devil made me do it, and he pleads innocent. He pleads with the jury (his guilt) with a very convincing verse:

“See her slide out of her negligee, her skin was hot – touch intoxicating. And if you were me, you would have done the same. So spare me the gutter, save me from the ball and chain.”

This is a great song and reminds me of “The Trial” from Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” which is also a metaphorical court trial within the authors head.

The album ends with the author all alone, having lost everything. He can’t sleep, he can’t eat. He’s awake at 4am thinking about Toni, his lost love. He’s tired and he’s cold.

Anyway, that’s what the album means to me. I don’t really understand every song but I see how the album as a whole outlines the story of love, seduction, and falling for desires which eventually lead to the destruction of everything you really cherish in life.

I have always loved Radar Love. I believe that the song is about a fellow who is taking speed to keep driving to get to see his baby. "No more speed, I'm almost there" means that he doesn't need to take any more speed because he is almost there.

The song was made in the 70's. At the time there was this weird surge in interest in the lives of truck drivers as like the modern day cowboys. They were also getting hideously picked on by local laws. (Kind of like today. What can I say history repeats.) But this kind of put them in this Robinhood status. Anyways... that being said... I had family that were truck drivers around this time and they told me that they used the term "radar love" for truck drivers that are trying to hook up with their favorite trucker prostitute. A lot of the girls would actually travel with truckers and randomly adhoc go from truck stop to truck stop. So in order for a trucker to find a particular hooker he would get on the CB and send a message asking other truckers to relay out he is looking for that girl. CB radio distance is very limited but if all the truckers radio relayed a message they could get that message to travel huge distances. But these message relays where you are looking for someone was occasionally referred to as a "radar." I don't know if it's a case of art imitating life or life imitating art... IE who came up with the term first. But I tend to think that's what the song is referring to.
Why would the newsman be talking about another radar lover gone? Makes a lot of sense if they are prostitutes and the dangerous nature of that gig. On top of that... Why wouldn't Golden Earring explain the lyrics of the song? Lovers with ESP in the Netherlands listening to old country singers from the US on the radio... highly doubt it.