Following Kraftwerk and Yello, we return to the road. Or do we? Is this classic by the Sacramento rock band about an obsessive racing driver, or something else entirely? The song, taken from their second album, Fashion Nugget (1996), was written by the guitarist Greg Brown (he left before the next album) and contains oodles of clever and dirty guitar licks, a higher keyboard sound (or melodica) that appears in style to be later echoed,on some of Snoop Dogg's records, and Vince Defiore's trumpet gives the song extra class and timbre.
Of course it is lead singer John McCrea who drives the band with his authoritative spoken and sun delivery, but what about the lyrics? At first seems to be about a racing driver who stays behind to obsess about the event he hasn't won, but then again the video suggest it's about and office worker who yearns to escape into some kind of surreal triathlon. And there is also suggestion a dysfunctional relationship. Could this also be a metaphor for ba sex, with a man so focus on 'going the distance' or thinking of someone for whom 'he still burns' he fails to satisfy the woman he's with, who is herself left on the starting line? Any which way, this song is really going places.
[Verse 1]
Reluctantly crouched at the starting line
Engines pumping and thumping in time
The green light flashes, the flags go up
Churning and burning, they yearn for the cup
They deftly maneuver and muscle for rank
Fuel burning fast on an empty tank
Reckless and wild, they pour through the turns
Their prowess is potent and secretly stern
As they speed through the finish, the flags go down
The fans get up and they get out of town
The arena is empty except for one man
Still driving and striving as fast as he can
[Bridge]
The sun has gone down and the moon has come up
And long ago somebody left with the cup
But he's driving and striving and hugging the turns
And thinking of someone for whom he still burns
[Hook]
He's going the distance
He's going for speed
She's all alone
In her time of need
Because he's racing and pacing and plotting the course
He's fighting and biting and riding on his horse
He's going the distance
[Verse 2]
No trophy, no flowers, no flashbulbs, no wine
He's haunted by something he cannot define
Bowel-shaking earthquakes of doubt and remorse
Assail him, impale him with monster-truck force
In his mind, he's still driving, still making the grade
She's hoping in time that her memories will fade
Cause he's racing and pacing and plotting the course
He's fighting and biting and riding on his horse
[Bridge]
The sun has gone down and the moon has come up
And long ago somebody left with the cup
But he's striving and driving and hugging the turns
And thinking of someone for whom he still burns
[Hook]
Cause he's going the distance
He's going for speed
She's all alone
In her time of need
Because he's racing and pacing and plotting the course
He's fighting and biting and riding on his horse
He's racing and pacing and plotting the course
He's fighting and biting and riding on his horse
He's going the distance
He's going for speed
He's going the distance.
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