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Celebrating our two-lane highways of yesteryear…And the joys of driving them today!

A Futuristic Look At A Drive On A 2 Lane Road?


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I was doing my time on the treadmill today, watching a concert DVD of the rock band Rush. One of the songs they performed reminded me of driving 2 lanes of blacktop but with a futuristic-scifi feel to it. I used to listen to this song over and over when I was in high school and it was perfect driving music as I drove the winding road of Polomares Canyon in my Mustang. Back then I thought that it should have been put in a video but am glad they didn't.

 

The song is called "Red Barchetta" and it is based on an article that appeared in Road and Track Magazine in November of 1973. It was a story based on a time in the future when cars as we know them today are outlawed. The lyricist for the band, and drummer, Neil Peart turned it into song lyrics that when combined with the music tell an exceptional story. As a side note Buddy Rich once told Johnny Carson that Neil Peart was the only rock drummer worth a damn.

 

I highly recommend giving it a listen. The song can be found on Rush's 'Moving Pictures' album from 1981.

 

The original story: A Nice Morning Drive by Richard Foster

 

 

Red Barchetta

lyrics by Neil Peart

 

My uncle has a country place

That no one knows about

He says it used to be a farm

Before the Motor Law

And on Sundays I elude the eyes

And hop the Turbine Freight

To far outside the Wire

Where my white-haired uncle waits

 

Jump to the ground

As the Turbo slows to cross the borderline

Run like the wind

As excitement shivers up and down my spine

Down in his barn

My uncle preserved for me an old machine

For fifty odd years

To keep it as new has been his dearest dream

 

I strip away the old debris

That hides a shining car

A brilliant red Barchetta

From a better vanished time

I fire up the willing engine

Responding with a roar

Tires spitting gravel

I commit my weekly crime

 

Wind

In my hair

Shifting and drifting

Mechanical music

Adrenaline surge...

 

Well-weathered leather

Hot metal and oil

The scented country air

Sunlight on chrome

The blur of the landscape

Every nerve aware

 

Suddenly ahead of me

Across the mountainside

A gleaming alloy air car

Shoots towards me, two lanes wide

I spin around with shrieking tires

To run the deadly race

Go screaming through the valley

As another joins the chase

 

Drive like the wind

Straining the limits of machine and man

Laughing out loud with fear and hope

I've got a desperate plan

At the one-lane bridge

I leave the giants stranded at the riverside

Race back to the farm

To dream with my uncle at the fireside

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God Bless Buddy Rich and Neil Peart!

I cannot tell you how many times I played that Rush tape in my 70 Chevelle in 1981. The year of my HS Graduation, (or escape). I would check the gas, fill the oil, pop that tape in and head to the Jersey Shore!!!

 

On another of my favorite albums, Neal Peart and Bill Bruford (among others) played on "Burning For Buddy: A Tribute To The Music Of Buddy Rich". There is a "making of" DVD as well, but I have not seen it. Would probably go on the same shelf with my "Yes Years" video. But that's just me.

 

... Chris

 

 

 

 

 

As a side note Buddy Rich once told Johnny Carson that Neil Peart was the only rock drummer worth a damn.

 

I highly recommend giving it a listen. The song can be found on Rush's 'Moving Pictures' album from 1981.

 

The original story: A Nice Morning Drive by Richard Foster

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God Bless Buddy Rich and Neil Peart!

I cannot tell you how many times I played that Rush tape in my 70 Chevelle in 1981. The year of my HS Graduation, (or escape). I would check the gas, fill the oil, pop that tape in and head to the Jersey Shore!!!

 

On another of my favorite albums, Neal Peart and Bill Bruford (among others) played on "Burning For Buddy: A Tribute To The Music Of Buddy Rich". There is a "making of" DVD as well, but I have not seen it. Would probably go on the same shelf with my "Yes Years" video. But that's just me.

 

... Chris

 

Hey Chris, looks like you and I are the same vintage from opposite sides of the continent. Hail to the Class of '81!

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  • 5 weeks later...

Unfortunately, the only copy of Red Barchetta I have is on cassette and all of my old cassette players have bit the dust ... so I'm forced to listen to "A Show of Hands" on CD to get a Rush fix ...

 

And, yes, as another member of the Class of '81 (from the Midwest), I too wore out my "Moving Pictures" tape. Actually, it was Red Barchetta and the rest of that album that really made me a fan of Rush.

 

I definitely remember cranking up the stereo when no one else was home, getting out the air guitar and playing in the basement family room ...

 

Yeah, those were the days.

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Unfortunately, the only copy of Red Barchetta I have is on cassette and all of my old cassette players have bit the dust ... so I'm forced to listen to "A Show of Hands" on CD to get a Rush fix ...

 

And, yes, as another member of the Class of '81 (from the Midwest), I too wore out my "Moving Pictures" tape. Actually, it was Red Barchetta and the rest of that album that really made me a fan of Rush.

 

I definitely remember cranking up the stereo when no one else was home, getting out the air guitar and playing in the basement family room ...

 

Yeah, those were the days.

 

 

 

Are you guys hip to Wolfgang's Vault?

It's Bill Graham's personal collection of recordings, posters and other ephemera.

Gosh, where would we be without that guy?

Enjoy!

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Are you guys hip to Wolfgang's Vault?

It's Bill Graham's personal collection of recordings, posters and other ephemera.

Gosh, where would we be without that guy?

Enjoy!

 

Wow!

 

That is incredible collection of rock history. I noticed many of the recordings are from the King Biscuit Flower Hour. I'm sure I heard them back in the day and may have even recorded some of them off of the broadcast and onto cassette. All long gone of course.

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