I believe this song is a combination of both the afore-mentioned opinions and more.
The first part is about relationships to people. "And if life is just a highway,
Then the soul is just a car" meaning cars travelling down the highway are like people travelling down the road of life. This suggests that people who "appear" close to you (as a car would in your mirror) and you think you know very well, may be a lot more distant than you perceieve them (may appear closer than they are).
The analogy of souls being like cars on a highway, also allows you to come up with adaptations of this metaphor. A car could take the next off-ramp at any time. Meaning at any point the soul's journey could end (i.e. death) or perhaps that it is easy to alter your journey (change your life) by making one simple turn, but if you don't watch the road carefully you could easily end up on the wrong road again.
The other meaning in this song is in relation to the past, and how although the past is far away, it's in your mind and will always appear closer than it actually is. I.e. although the car behind you may fade into the distance, it can easily creep up on you again. "I'll hear that ugly coarse and violent voice - And then he grabs me from behind - And then he pulls me back". This signifies that the memories of his father, although he knows they were a long way away, (like objects in the rear view mirror) they appear close enough to haunt you and like a car in the rear view mirror, you always have to look back to make sure its still there, and that its not too close, but also that no matter how much you look in the mirror to try and prevent a collision, theres always the possibility of a collision (the past catching up with you).
There are also a lot of other excellent metaphors in the song, "She used her body just like a bandage - she used my body just like a wound" This saying that his soul was wounded and bleeding, and this woman was his "bandage" who although does not heal the wound, allows everything to spill out and be soaked up, (he could tell her everything and she made him feel better) and although this does not heal the wound, it allows the wound to remain clean and heal itself, and not become infected and stay there forever. (The wound referring to his past).
I could go on forever about this song, as its an amazing song. However i don;t know what the posting limit is here.
Anyway this is one of my favourite Meat Loaf songs, its truly amazing and although i am lucky enough not to have experianced most of the contents of this song, im glad to have the opportunity to understand the problems some people face and allow me to make me more gratefull for how easy i've had it
I believe this song is a combination of both the afore-mentioned opinions and more.
The first part is about relationships to people. "And if life is just a highway, Then the soul is just a car" meaning cars travelling down the highway are like people travelling down the road of life. This suggests that people who "appear" close to you (as a car would in your mirror) and you think you know very well, may be a lot more distant than you perceieve them (may appear closer than they are).
The analogy of souls being like cars on a highway, also allows you to come up with adaptations of this metaphor. A car could take the next off-ramp at any time. Meaning at any point the soul's journey could end (i.e. death) or perhaps that it is easy to alter your journey (change your life) by making one simple turn, but if you don't watch the road carefully you could easily end up on the wrong road again.
The other meaning in this song is in relation to the past, and how although the past is far away, it's in your mind and will always appear closer than it actually is. I.e. although the car behind you may fade into the distance, it can easily creep up on you again. "I'll hear that ugly coarse and violent voice - And then he grabs me from behind - And then he pulls me back". This signifies that the memories of his father, although he knows they were a long way away, (like objects in the rear view mirror) they appear close enough to haunt you and like a car in the rear view mirror, you always have to look back to make sure its still there, and that its not too close, but also that no matter how much you look in the mirror to try and prevent a collision, theres always the possibility of a collision (the past catching up with you).
There are also a lot of other excellent metaphors in the song, "She used her body just like a bandage - she used my body just like a wound" This saying that his soul was wounded and bleeding, and this woman was his "bandage" who although does not heal the wound, allows everything to spill out and be soaked up, (he could tell her everything and she made him feel better) and although this does not heal the wound, it allows the wound to remain clean and heal itself, and not become infected and stay there forever. (The wound referring to his past).
I could go on forever about this song, as its an amazing song. However i don;t know what the posting limit is here.
Anyway this is one of my favourite Meat Loaf songs, its truly amazing and although i am lucky enough not to have experianced most of the contents of this song, im glad to have the opportunity to understand the problems some people face and allow me to make me more gratefull for how easy i've had it