This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Jerry was a race car driver
And he drove so goddamn fast
He never did win no checkered flag
But he never did come in last
Jerry was a race car driver
He'd say el sob number one
With a Bocephus sticker
On his 442 he'd light 'em up
Just for fun
Captain Pierce was a fireman
Richmond engine number three
I'll be a wealthy man when I get
A dime for all the things that
Man taught to me
Captain pierce was a strong man
Strong as any man alive
It stuck in his craw that they
Made him retire at the age of 65
Jerry was a race car driver
22 years old
Had one too many cold beers one night
And wrapped himself around a telephone pole.
And he drove so goddamn fast
He never did win no checkered flag
But he never did come in last
Jerry was a race car driver
He'd say el sob number one
With a Bocephus sticker
On his 442 he'd light 'em up
Just for fun
Captain Pierce was a fireman
Richmond engine number three
I'll be a wealthy man when I get
A dime for all the things that
Man taught to me
Captain pierce was a strong man
Strong as any man alive
It stuck in his craw that they
Made him retire at the age of 65
Jerry was a race car driver
22 years old
Had one too many cold beers one night
And wrapped himself around a telephone pole.
Lyrics submitted by knate15, edited by Iamwarthog
Jerry Was a Race Car Driver Lyrics as written by Reid L. Iii Lalonde Les Claypool
Lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Style is too loose? He is one of the most unique artists around, completely blows Jaco Wooten and Hamm out of the water in the ways of style. Only Les can play like Les, nevermind the fact that he's always dead on accurate even with the most difficult rhythms with a fucking six string bass which by the way is insanely difficult to manage in the first place. Les is not just a groove-machine, he is THE groove-machine.
@phynck I've also heard it doesn't have a fret board, this man is indeed THE groove-mach- No. THE GROOVE MACHINE 4K!
A) This song is about drinking and driving like a lot of his songs because he is strongly against drinking and driving. But Jerry isn't as put together (lyrically) as others like Buzzards of Green Hill. Very loose meaning if you know what I mean.
B) Les is definitely the best bassist, I'm a huge fan of Vic Wooten and jaco and flea but you can so tell they learned how to play and were taught and got better as opposed to Les who never took a bass lesson and taught himself jamming with guys keeping the beat and doing his own thing. He is a pure, natural bassist, unlike the others. I have a billion analogies running through my head but I cant seem to pull one out..... it's like 3 guys go and study math and get their degrees and are amazing mathematicians while there's 1 guy who had no schooling and just had a mathematical mind and can do it naturally. That's why Les sounds so different and Primus is so weird because Les isn't the product of band class and years of being taught how to play, rather a primal urge to lay down fast, funky beats.
I love Primus, but they are all different. Flea is more traditional and funky, whereas Les is self taught and experimental with his bass. Both know how to throw doen a mean line, but have different approaches to things like intros and solos.
les claypool is the best bassist ever who can deny that?????
@DrLove Two year olds
Apparently you haven't heard him recently. I saw Primus live a couple months ago, and during Tommy the Cat he slapped 32nd notes nonstop for about a minute. I haven't heard Jaco, Wooten, or Hamm doing that.
i've seen victor wooten live, and it was incredible, but i think i would be more excited to see les claypool.
Jerry was a racecar driver and he'd say "El Sob #1". El Sob is short for El Sobrante, California, where Les and Ler are from.
lets not forget tim herb on this song he knows his shit quite a lot hehe
Here's what I get from the song:
I think he may be compairing Captain Pierce to Jerry.
Pierce is good person, and apparently had a large positive impact on Les. But it seems that he was too wreckless. He raced through life and enjoyed the thrill of it.
"He never did win no checkered flag, but he never did come in last. "
His lifestyle didn't get him anywhere, and in the end he crashed.
This song is great. the lyrics are self explanitory i think.
The "Dog will hunt" lyric is from Texas Chainsaw massacre 2. It may be imitated by les but i think the clip is taken right from the movie.
deffinately about taking life too fast and messing up in the end.that retirement thing probably shows a hard worker, takes life at a good pase, something like that. correct me if I'm wrong, but I think les is amongst the top 5 bassists with victor wooten, jaco pastorius, stanley clarke, marcus miller, and possibly ray brown. but I agree with Awhislyle.