This song was inspired by the Louise Erdrich short story "The Red Convertible" which is about two Native American brothers who buy a red convertible and drive it all over the country. When they get back from their lengthy road trip one of the brothers (Henry) is drafted and goes off to vietnam. "He was stationed up in the northern hill country." When the brother comes home he is a shattered image of the person he once was. In an attempt to coax his brother out of his post-war funk Lyman beats the hell out of the convertible so that Henry will fix it. Henry does fix it and the brothers "started off, east, toward Pembina and the Red River because Henry said he wanted to see the high water." They get there and Henry admits he'll never be the same or okay again, and after the boys knock back a few beers and wrestle a bit Henry says he has to cool off and walks out into the river. The last words Lyman hears his brother say are "My boots are filling." Then he's gone, and Lyman runs the Red Convertible into the river as well.
Rocky took a heart breaking story and turned it into a great song, he used so many lines from the short story and really captured it. You can find the short story online, google it. If you love the song it's impossible to read the story and not be covered in goosebumps at the end.
This song was inspired by the Louise Erdrich short story "The Red Convertible" which is about two Native American brothers who buy a red convertible and drive it all over the country. When they get back from their lengthy road trip one of the brothers (Henry) is drafted and goes off to vietnam. "He was stationed up in the northern hill country." When the brother comes home he is a shattered image of the person he once was. In an attempt to coax his brother out of his post-war funk Lyman beats the hell out of the convertible so that Henry will fix it. Henry does fix it and the brothers "started off, east, toward Pembina and the Red River because Henry said he wanted to see the high water." They get there and Henry admits he'll never be the same or okay again, and after the boys knock back a few beers and wrestle a bit Henry says he has to cool off and walks out into the river. The last words Lyman hears his brother say are "My boots are filling." Then he's gone, and Lyman runs the Red Convertible into the river as well.
Rocky took a heart breaking story and turned it into a great song, he used so many lines from the short story and really captured it. You can find the short story online, google it. If you love the song it's impossible to read the story and not be covered in goosebumps at the end.