Driving with the brakes on

This was a song and band I hooked on to during my Chicago years (1994-98). Easily the era where my musical heart was at its spongiest best. Recently the lines driving with the brakes on and swimming with your boots on seemed evocative of my last five years of barefoot running. I’m usually not much for finding out what a song is about… am mostly about the sound and feel. But the lyrics made me dig deeper.. on the great fan web. Read the lyrics below (or better still, give it a listen) and leave a comment on what you think the song is about.

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, I say it’s a long way back now, hon
She just yawns

And we might get lost some place
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

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

But unless the moon falls tonight
Unless continents collide
Nothing’s gonna make me break from her side

‘Cos 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

It’s hard to say you love someone
And it’s hard to say you don’t

Psst… What do you think the song is about? Leave a comment, will ya!