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Driving through the long night
Trying to figure who's right and who's wrong
Now the kid has gone. I sit belted up tight,
She sucks on a match light, glowing bronze, steering on.
And I might be more a man if I stopped this in its tracks
And said come on, let's go home. But she's got the wheel,
And I've got nothing except what I have on.
When you're driving with the brakes on,
When you're swimming with your boots on,
It's hard to say you love someone
And it's hard to say you don't.
Trying to keep the mood right, trying to steer the conversation from
The thing we've done.
She shuts up the ashtray and I say it's a long way back now hon
And she just yawns. And we might get lost someplace
So desolate that no one where we're from would ever come
But she's got the wheel and I've got to deal from now on.
But unless the moon falls tonight, unless continents collide,
Nothing's gonna make me break from her side.
Trying to figure who's right and who's wrong
Now the kid has gone. I sit belted up tight,
She sucks on a match light, glowing bronze, steering on.
And I might be more a man if I stopped this in its tracks
And said come on, let's go home. But she's got the wheel,
And I've got nothing except what I have on.
When you're driving with the brakes on,
When you're swimming with your boots on,
It's hard to say you love someone
And it's hard to say you don't.
Trying to keep the mood right, trying to steer the conversation from
The thing we've done.
She shuts up the ashtray and I say it's a long way back now hon
And she just yawns. And we might get lost someplace
So desolate that no one where we're from would ever come
But she's got the wheel and I've got to deal from now on.
But unless the moon falls tonight, unless continents collide,
Nothing's gonna make me break from her side.
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This is song is obviously about abortion. The two are in the car on their way back from the clinic or whatever. He wanted to keep the child and feels guilty about it. His girlfriend, on the other hand, does not seem very affected by it and this sort of depresses him even more. He feels disappointed by the nonchalant way she ignores the situation: she does not want to talk about it, she just keeps driving, playing with the ashtray, looking bored and sucking on a match. For her this was nothing special.
It was her choice and all he wishes was that she had at least talked it through with him. The way things are now, he is seriously disappointed with her and even though he loves her, this thing is now between them. Swimming with your boots on is, of course, a metaphor. The abortion is burdening their relationship like a pair of wet and heavy clothes would make swimming difficult.
This is a very sad song about a relationship going though a hard time. The man sees for the first time a side of his girlfriend he did not know was there. He still loves her, but he is hurt and feels very lonely at the moment, despite being in the same car with her. Breaking up is not an option. Deep down he knows he still loves her, but he just wishes they could talk about it. If she would just pull over and get this thing out of the way so they can return to normality, to the way things were before. But she is the one in control and he needs to finally accept that.
Like I said, a very sad song, but still one of my favorites.