Album: Twisted (1995)

Charted: 18

License This Song 

• 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: 3

• 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"

More Songfacts:

Open ArmsJourney

"Open Arms" was a pioneering power ballad. Stadium rock bands like Journey shied away from slow songs, but when they reluctantly agreed to record the song, it became their biggest chart hit.

That's The Way Love GoesJanet Jackson

The longest-running #1 US hit for a member of the Jackson family is Janet's "That's The Way Love Goes," with eight weeks on top.

Born In The U.S.A.Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen's "Born In The U.S.A." was inspired by the book (later a movie) Born On The Fourth Of July by Ron Kovic, a Vietnam veteran who protested the war when he returned home.

St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)John Parr

"St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)" was not written for the movie, but for Rick Hanson, a wheelchair athlete whose 1985 "Man In Motion" tour logged 24,856 miles on his wheelchair in 34 countries while raising $26 million for spinal cord research.

One Tree HillU2

The TV show One Tree Hill got it's name from a song of the same name on U2's Joshua Tree album.

American PieDon McLean

The only cover of "American Pie" to chart is by Madonna, whose 2000 version was a minor hit in America but went to #1 in the UK.

Editor's Picks

Donnie Iris (Ah! Leah!, The Rapper)Songwriter Interviews

Before "Rap" was a form of music, it was something guys did to pick up girls in nightclubs. Donnie talks about "The Rapper" and reveals the identity of Leah.

David Bowie Leads the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Long-Haired MenSong Writing

Bowie's "activist" days of 1964 led to Ziggy Stardust.

Bob DaisleySongwriter Interviews

Bob was the bass player and lyricist for the first two Ozzy Osbourne albums. Here's how he wrote songs like "Crazy Train" and "Mr. Crowley" with Ozzy and Randy Rhoads.

La La Brooks of The CrystalsSong Writing

The lead singer on "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me," La La explains how and why Phil Spector replaced The Crystals with Darlene Love on "He's A Rebel."

Randy HouserSongwriter Interviews

The "How Country Feels" singer talks Skynyrd and songwriting.

Laura NyroSongwriting Legends

Laura Nyro talks about her complex, emotionally rich songwriting and how she supports women's culture through her art.