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Dynamite Walls Lyrics
open your eyes, put it in drive
get on the road, and just go
city lights turn to tree lines and national park signs
the mountains approach as we follow lines in the road
and the air turns to falling snow
miles away, just up ahead
it doesn't matter what
any of us is looking for
-- we'll never find it because
it's not even there
i've been showing falling rock warnings
and construction work slowings
the engine blazes, the elevation raises
and the dynamite walls contain us
everyone's watching for animals crossing,
in the part of the glass that's defrosting
miles away, just up ahead
it doesn't matter what
any of us is looking for
-- we'll never find it because
it's not even there
open your eyes, put it in drive
get on the road, and just go
city lights turn to tree lines and national park signs
the mountains approach as we follow lines in the road
and the air turns to falling snow
the engine blazes, the elevation raises
and the dynamite walls contain us
get on the road, and just go
city lights turn to tree lines and national park signs
the mountains approach as we follow lines in the road
and the air turns to falling snow
it doesn't matter what
any of us is looking for
-- we'll never find it because
it's not even there
and construction work slowings
the engine blazes, the elevation raises
and the dynamite walls contain us
everyone's watching for animals crossing,
in the part of the glass that's defrosting
it doesn't matter what
any of us is looking for
-- we'll never find it because
it's not even there
get on the road, and just go
city lights turn to tree lines and national park signs
the mountains approach as we follow lines in the road
and the air turns to falling snow
the engine blazes, the elevation raises
and the dynamite walls contain us
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I live in Toronto and work up north in the summer. I go back-and-forth a few times each season so I, too, am familiar with the area, with it's dynamite walls and it's lack of street lighting.
An interesting fact about these dynamite walls: every year people keep building small Inukshuk statues on top of them across large stretches of the highway. I have no idea why though (perhaps marking traveled territory). If any one knows why poeple keep doing this I'd really like to know.
Anyways, back to the song. I think the songs about about how we're all so focussed on our jobs and getting places in life (both, figuratively and literally) that we don't really take the time to look at nature.
The driver in the song is in the presence of mountains but all (s)he's concerned with is driving on the road. Hayden suggests the closest we ever get to visiting National Parks is looking at their road signs.
I think he's saying that these days so much emphasis is but on our jobs/progress in defining who we are that anything which distracts us from this task (e.g. smelling the flowers) is a wast of time. In reality this isn't really true, but many of us will cling to the idea just so it feels like we're making real progress ("it doesn't matter what any of us is looking for, we'll never find it because it's not even there").
It reminds me a lot of the Grandaddy song, "The Group Who Couldn't Say" which is about a group of white-collars who take a trip to the forest and find themselves.
I'm pretty sure it's about leaving toronto on the 400 highway. I've done it on many a cold night. Once you're out of barrie ontario, all of a sudden it's just all trees and then you soon reach the rocky areas of the canadian sheild. They blast the rock away, leaving walls up on the sides of the road. (hence dynamite walls)
I didn't know that (I don't live in Toronto), but I love the chorus.. Everyone feels like that. Maybe he's leaving Toronto looking for something, but he won't find it because it's not even there. It sounds like he's trapped. This song is perfect!
This strikes me as a very Canadian song. It's kind of like the 21st Century counterpart of "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" by Gordon Lightfoot, which is a flippin' amazing song.
My wife took me to a Hayden show for my birthday a couple of years ago, and watching them play this song was amazing. The crescendo in the middle of the song was this awesome, powerfully emotional experience. It's hard to describe it, but the chemistry was just perfect. It's one of those experiences I wish I could go back and relive over and over again.
That jam in the middle is what keeps us all coming back.
That jam in the middle is what keeps us all coming back.
you get this sort of gorgeous scenery when you head out from toronto to hamilton on the 401. or heading toward the escarpment. and you get this sort of feeling too...
To hell with the lyrics, the jam at the end is what brought us here.