The Driver

Used to go out driving, sometimes late into the night 21, fucking 'round and wasting gas Across the bridge to Sheffield then out into Tuscumbia Where the main street's a time trip to the past Behind the hotel grant there was a flaming dumpster I saw a group of Klansmen in their robes I circled back but they had vanished like rats Leaving nothing behind them but some smoke So if you'd like to tell your story, by all means, go tell your story But don't forget you only have one side So parlay your inner visions with the usual suspicions As you make your grand approach to the divide And when you're changing lanes and passing on the right Check your blind spot and signal your intent I saw that Honda full of girls go airborne into the trees In the pouring rain on Interstate 10 Flying Flying Flying Used to go out driving, sometimes late into the night Trying to make sense of the pieces of my life Still young enough to not know how the puzzle fit together Nothing to fall back on but a knife The bombed-out looking factories on the east side of town Blasting here comes a regular on ten An epiphany, a moment of clarity Driving all alone at 4 a.m. Driving Driving Driving In a van full of stink, we set out upon the plains To the black hills and Rockies and cascades We had never been out west, at least not further out than Texas Our lives spread out before us like a page An unwritten novel, our huck Finn adventure Come to life, we were living in real-time That rare day when we just turned the music off And let the wide-open vistas fill our minds We were already older, yet much younger than today Pushing hard against the limits we'd arise Ever westward, we saw sunglass reflections Of a setting sun in vast Montana skies Driving Driving Flying And there's this alternate reality where everything is different Than the world of happy endings we endure A moment's distraction, an alarm clock powered down A blind spot not checked before a turn That grand prix we saw head-on on our way to see replacements When I hydroplaned but caught the road in time That guy on I-10 driving east as we were west-bound In Florida, 2000, April 9 That ten-degree decline headed down Teton Pass Cooley driving, snow on solid ice That meteor that fell beside our bus in Idaho As we drove on past a near-flaming demise As we drove on past a near-flaming demise As we drove on past a near-flaming demise As we drove on past a near-flaming demise