Driving With The Brakes On

Album: Twisted (1995)
Charted: 18
Play Video
  • Driving through the long night
    Trying to figure who's right and who's wrong
    Now the kid has gone. I sit belted up tight,
    She sucks on a match light, glowing bronze, steering on.
    And I might be more a man if I stopped this in its tracks
    And said come on, let's go home. But she's got the wheel,
    And I've got nothing except what I have on.

    When you're driving with the brakes on,
    When you're swimming with your boots on,
    It's hard to say you love someone
    And it's hard to say you don't.

    Trying to keep the mood right, trying to steer the conversation from
    The thing we've done.
    She shuts up the ashtray and I say it's a long way back now hon
    And she just yawns. And we might get lost someplace
    So desolate that no one where we're from would ever come
    But she's got the wheel and I've got to deal from now on.

    But unless the moon falls tonight, unless continents collide,
    Nothing's gonna make me break from her side. Writer/s: JUSTIN CURRIE
    Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 4

  • Rainman from UsaIn a pre-internet age I hears this and thought "abortion." So tonight this melancholy masterpiece entered my head and I wanted to see if anyone else made the same connection. Yes.

    The song captures that this will never be the inconsequential thing they had hope it would be. They know what they have done.
  • Jim from UkI don’t think she is driving, I always took the “she’s got the wheel” as meaning that ultimately it (the abortion’ was her choice and right.
  • Ed from HoustonIt is difficult for me to image a girl driving her boyfriend through the long night far from home after having an abortion (Wouldn't the guy be driving?). She's driving a long trip, smoking, relaxed, and yawning after an abortion? I think there are better interpretations.

    She decided to leave town, with or without him. It was time for him to put up or shut up because she was not bluffing. She was leaving. He did not want to commit to her. But at the last minute he got in the car and left with her, with no time to tell anyone or take anything except "what he had on". He is "the kid that has gone".

    When he initially got in the car he thought he could talk her back. But he does not have the courage ("if he was more of a man") to stop her. He thinks about trying to talk her out of leaving by saying "come on, let's go home" but does not say it. She's in control, "she's got the wheel" and is leaving. This leaving "was the thing we've done" and which forced him to commit or not. He gently hints at going back home by saying "its a long way back now hon", but "she just yawns" (does not care). "She's got the wheel and I've got the deal [with it] from now on".

    He was not sure if he loved her or not since "It's hard to say to love someone and hard to say you don't". Finally he does commit by holding his tongue and NOT trying to talk her into "going back home" and by realizing that he does love her and "nothing is gonna make me break from her side". He continues on with her to a place "so far away that that no one they know would come."

    Commitment was something lacking in many of the characters in Justin Currie's songs. It was a regular theme. 2016-06-25
  • Johnny from Glasgow, United Kingdomthe songs about driving home after taking his girlfriend home after she has an abortion and through it all they still love each other "and unless the moon falls tonight unless the continents collide nothing will make me break from her side"
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Andrew Farriss of INXS

Andrew Farriss of INXSSongwriter Interviews

Andrew Farriss on writing with Michael Hutchence, the stories behind "Mystify" and other INXS hits, and his country-flavored debut solo album.

Jethro Tull

Jethro TullFact or Fiction

Stage urinals, flute devices, and the real Aqualung in this Fact or Fiction.

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: Tarantino Edition

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: Tarantino EditionMusic Quiz

Whether he's splitting ears or burning Nazis, Quentin Tarantino uses memorable music in his films. See if you can match the song to the scene.

Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike + The Mechanics)

Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike + The Mechanics)Songwriter Interviews

Mike Rutherford talks about the "Silent Running" storyline and "Land Of Confusion" in the age of Trump.

Donald Fagen

Donald FagenSongwriter Interviews

Fagen talks about how the Steely Dan songwriting strategy has changed over the years, and explains why you don't hear many covers of their songs.

Soul Train Stories with Stephen McMillian

Soul Train Stories with Stephen McMillianSong Writing

A Soul Train dancer takes us through a day on the show, and explains what you had to do to get camera time.