Okay crack a book. I cant find any acknowledgment of this but The song was obviously written about the book "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac. Its about two guys during the late fifties who spent a lot of time bumming around the country getting into a lot of different shit, doing drugs, and lookin for love. Kerouac even wrote a fictional song that appears in the book at a couple points.... the lyrics are
"Home in Missoula,
Home in Truckee,
Home in Opelousas,
Ain't no home for me,
Home in old Medora,
Home in Wounded Knee,
Home in Ogallala,
Home I'll never be"
Besides the fact that The opening lyrics of Burnin for You are obviously a rewrite of Kerouac song, the two main characters spend a lot of time waxing philosophic about a lot of things, including TIME, and one of them(Dean Moriarty) has something of a catchphrase. He says "WE KNOW TIME" about 2 dozen times throughout the book. and these guys seem to like to write songs about books. I mean Dont fear the reaper was written about Stephen King's The Stand- and that is proven.
I agree with the reference to Kerouac, but Don't Fear the Reaper can't be based on The Stand, since it precedes The Stand by two years. there is a quote from Don't Fear the Reaper in The Stand. both are excellent either way! :)
I agree with the reference to Kerouac, but Don't Fear the Reaper can't be based on The Stand, since it precedes The Stand by two years. there is a quote from Don't Fear the Reaper in The Stand. both are excellent either way! :)
You're wrong about The Stand (Don't Fear the Reaper came out two years before the book was published), but you might be on to something here. One of the most famous quotes from On the Road goes "...the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue...
You're wrong about The Stand (Don't Fear the Reaper came out two years before the book was published), but you might be on to something here. One of the most famous quotes from On the Road goes "...the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!" So there's a repeated "burn, burn burn" that matches the concept of the song lyrics pretty clearly, too.
I think you're onto something here. Buck is applying his life parallel to this Kerouac book. Like a lot of BOC songs, there are swirled trains of thought that are distinct and separate and here would be an example of that. His life of being a touring musician with pressures from the record company AND another thing that is hinted toward in "7 Screaming Diz-Busters", which is yet another song with two or three distinctly different trains of thought swirled together.
I think you're onto something here. Buck is applying his life parallel to this Kerouac book. Like a lot of BOC songs, there are swirled trains of thought that are distinct and separate and here would be an example of that. His life of being a touring musician with pressures from the record company AND another thing that is hinted toward in "7 Screaming Diz-Busters", which is yet another song with two or three distinctly different trains of thought swirled together.
@randy91 Very good observation, observe the 3rd paragraph of the Jack Kerouac article in Wikipedia. The song could literally have been penned by Jack Kerouac. Richard Meltzer was a fan and wrote stream of consciousness songs like Jack Kerouac's writings. The song could be a homage to Jack Kerouac, or it could be about similarities of Jack Kerouac's life to Blue Oyster Cult's life on the road as rock musicians.
@randy91 Very good observation, observe the 3rd paragraph of the Jack Kerouac article in Wikipedia. The song could literally have been penned by Jack Kerouac. Richard Meltzer was a fan and wrote stream of consciousness songs like Jack Kerouac's writings. The song could be a homage to Jack Kerouac, or it could be about similarities of Jack Kerouac's life to Blue Oyster Cult's life on the road as rock musicians.
Okay crack a book. I cant find any acknowledgment of this but The song was obviously written about the book "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac. Its about two guys during the late fifties who spent a lot of time bumming around the country getting into a lot of different shit, doing drugs, and lookin for love. Kerouac even wrote a fictional song that appears in the book at a couple points.... the lyrics are "Home in Missoula, Home in Truckee, Home in Opelousas, Ain't no home for me,
Home in old Medora, Home in Wounded Knee, Home in Ogallala, Home I'll never be" Besides the fact that The opening lyrics of Burnin for You are obviously a rewrite of Kerouac song, the two main characters spend a lot of time waxing philosophic about a lot of things, including TIME, and one of them(Dean Moriarty) has something of a catchphrase. He says "WE KNOW TIME" about 2 dozen times throughout the book. and these guys seem to like to write songs about books. I mean Dont fear the reaper was written about Stephen King's The Stand- and that is proven.
I agree with the reference to Kerouac, but Don't Fear the Reaper can't be based on The Stand, since it precedes The Stand by two years. there is a quote from Don't Fear the Reaper in The Stand. both are excellent either way! :)
I agree with the reference to Kerouac, but Don't Fear the Reaper can't be based on The Stand, since it precedes The Stand by two years. there is a quote from Don't Fear the Reaper in The Stand. both are excellent either way! :)
You're wrong about The Stand (Don't Fear the Reaper came out two years before the book was published), but you might be on to something here. One of the most famous quotes from On the Road goes "...the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue...
You're wrong about The Stand (Don't Fear the Reaper came out two years before the book was published), but you might be on to something here. One of the most famous quotes from On the Road goes "...the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!" So there's a repeated "burn, burn burn" that matches the concept of the song lyrics pretty clearly, too.
I think you're onto something here. Buck is applying his life parallel to this Kerouac book. Like a lot of BOC songs, there are swirled trains of thought that are distinct and separate and here would be an example of that. His life of being a touring musician with pressures from the record company AND another thing that is hinted toward in "7 Screaming Diz-Busters", which is yet another song with two or three distinctly different trains of thought swirled together.
I think you're onto something here. Buck is applying his life parallel to this Kerouac book. Like a lot of BOC songs, there are swirled trains of thought that are distinct and separate and here would be an example of that. His life of being a touring musician with pressures from the record company AND another thing that is hinted toward in "7 Screaming Diz-Busters", which is yet another song with two or three distinctly different trains of thought swirled together.
@randy91 Very good observation, observe the 3rd paragraph of the Jack Kerouac article in Wikipedia. The song could literally have been penned by Jack Kerouac. Richard Meltzer was a fan and wrote stream of consciousness songs like Jack Kerouac's writings. The song could be a homage to Jack Kerouac, or it could be about similarities of Jack Kerouac's life to Blue Oyster Cult's life on the road as rock musicians.
@randy91 Very good observation, observe the 3rd paragraph of the Jack Kerouac article in Wikipedia. The song could literally have been penned by Jack Kerouac. Richard Meltzer was a fan and wrote stream of consciousness songs like Jack Kerouac's writings. The song could be a homage to Jack Kerouac, or it could be about similarities of Jack Kerouac's life to Blue Oyster Cult's life on the road as rock musicians.