5 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A

Asleep at the Wheel Lyrics

Somewhere in north Texas
My father is driving fast
Sleeping through the rumble strip
While mom's at home taking a bath

He's asleep at the wheel

In my backyard in north Texas
On the hottest summer night
Hummingbirds fall all around us
Their hearts stopped beating in mid-flight

He's asleep at the wheel

?

You want to hear the funny part?
My father knows these old roads
Twice as well as any one of us

He's asleep at the wheel
5 Meanings

Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.

Add your thoughts...
Cover art for Asleep at the Wheel lyrics by Arcade Fire

ok so im thinking.....his father has died in a car accident

the hummingbirds falling to symbolize his death?

Cover art for Asleep at the Wheel lyrics by Arcade Fire

well i know for sure his grandfather + possibly his brother died but havent heard anything about his father.

Cover art for Asleep at the Wheel lyrics by Arcade Fire

I think its about his father not caring about his family, just that they turn out alright, so long as he doesn't have to get to know them.

Cover art for Asleep at the Wheel lyrics by Arcade Fire

Congest the words in the version I have.

Cover art for Asleep at the Wheel lyrics by Arcade Fire

I wish I knew what the lyrics said before "you wanna hear the funny part?"

This could be literal death, father tragically dying on a peaceful Texas night, or it could be a portrayal of his lack of connection to his family. He knows the roads twice as well as them because he's never home with them; Mom's at home taking a bath while he drives around their local roads in the summer heat.

"Sleeping through the rumble strip," is another lyric that could go both ways. He's drunk or asleep or already dead behind the wheel and doesn't react to the tires leaving the highway before an inevitable collision. Or he doesn't see the inevitable signs of his family growing away from him, or the need his family has for him.

Either way...a very peacefully sad song.

 
Questions and Answers

Ask specific questions and get answers to unlock more indepth meanings & facts.

Ask a question...