To me, the first stanza is directed toward the narrator's friend. He is having a difficult time in life and needs some guidance.
The second stanza is a memory about the boys when they were between childhood and adulthood "Just before bound-up, broken down" is talking about the car but figuratively their spirit being bound-up and broken down. They are down on their luck so they drove out to commit a sin, hence "drive out to the edge of the highway, follow that lonesome, dead-end road SIGN south". The dead-end road sign south is a metaphor for a path to the devil.
The chorus means that the boys' actions push them closer to heaven or hell. When the narrator's friend is having a difficult time it affects the narrator too because he has empathy for his friend. "When you cry I taste the salt in your tears".
The next stanza is the narrator trying to put his friend's life together by having him walk the path to God. His friend's "worn out feet of trial" are all his tough experiences in life. The narrator tells him that he could go to heaven forever if he gives up his jaded ways and gives himself up to God.
The last stanza means that all that defines them are is how they see themselves (all we are is a picture in a mirror) and their material wealth (which will not lead them to find God). The slow road to freedom is the hard work that is necessary for his friend to go to heaven; and heaven and hell are constantly acting upon him.
To me, the first stanza is directed toward the narrator's friend. He is having a difficult time in life and needs some guidance.
The second stanza is a memory about the boys when they were between childhood and adulthood "Just before bound-up, broken down" is talking about the car but figuratively their spirit being bound-up and broken down. They are down on their luck so they drove out to commit a sin, hence "drive out to the edge of the highway, follow that lonesome, dead-end road SIGN south". The dead-end road sign south is a metaphor for a path to the devil.
The chorus means that the boys' actions push them closer to heaven or hell. When the narrator's friend is having a difficult time it affects the narrator too because he has empathy for his friend. "When you cry I taste the salt in your tears".
The next stanza is the narrator trying to put his friend's life together by having him walk the path to God. His friend's "worn out feet of trial" are all his tough experiences in life. The narrator tells him that he could go to heaven forever if he gives up his jaded ways and gives himself up to God.
The last stanza means that all that defines them are is how they see themselves (all we are is a picture in a mirror) and their material wealth (which will not lead them to find God). The slow road to freedom is the hard work that is necessary for his friend to go to heaven; and heaven and hell are constantly acting upon him.