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Message
The Story Behind "Red Barchetta" by Rush
Posted on 1/24/24 at 9:26 am
Posted on 1/24/24 at 9:26 am
Moving Pictures is one of my favorite albums. I bought the CD when I was 14, and would listen to it constantly.
Red Barchetta came on today while I was heading to work. It was the first time I'd listened to it in a long time.
I was trying to figure out what an "alloy air car" was, so I googled it.
According to Wikipedia, the song is based on a short story from Road & Track Magazine:
The song is set in the future, where old style cars are seen as unsafe and are thus outlawed. The singer's uncle has kept an old Italian sports car locked away in his barn, that the singer takes out on Sundays for his "weekly crime" of driving the illegal vehicle.
In the song, he is chased by police driving alloy air cars.
I never knew that's what the song was about. I just imagined it was some guy driving his uncle's racecar around, and he got into a race with whatever an alloy air car was.
Red Barchetta came on today while I was heading to work. It was the first time I'd listened to it in a long time.
I was trying to figure out what an "alloy air car" was, so I googled it.
According to Wikipedia, the song is based on a short story from Road & Track Magazine:
quote:
The song was inspired by the futuristic short story "A Nice Morning Drive[1]", written by Richard Foster and published in the November 1973 issue of Road & Track magazine. The story describes a similar future in which increasingly stringent safety regulations have forced cars to evolve into massive Modern Safety Vehicles (MSVs), capable of withstanding a 50-mile-per-hour (80 km/h) impact without injury to the driver. Consequently, drivers of MSVs have become less safety-conscious and more aggressive, and "bouncing" (intentionally ramming) the older, smaller cars is a common sport among some.[2]
The song is set in the future, where old style cars are seen as unsafe and are thus outlawed. The singer's uncle has kept an old Italian sports car locked away in his barn, that the singer takes out on Sundays for his "weekly crime" of driving the illegal vehicle.
In the song, he is chased by police driving alloy air cars.
quote:
The song's lyrics tell a story set in a future in which many classes of vehicles have been banned by a "Motor Law." The narrator's uncle has kept one of these now-illegal vehicles (the titular red Barchetta sports car) in pristine condition for roughly 50 years and is hiding it at his secret country home, which had been a farm before the Motor Law was enacted. Every Sunday, the narrator commits a "weekly crime" of sneaking out to this location and going for a drive in the countryside. During one such drive, he encounters the equivalent of the police in the form a "gleaming alloy air car" followed soon by a second, which culminates into a futuristic car chase until the narrator drives across a one-lane bridge that is too narrow for the air cars. The song ends with the narrator returning safely to his uncle's farm.
I never knew that's what the song was about. I just imagined it was some guy driving his uncle's racecar around, and he got into a race with whatever an alloy air car was.
13
Posted on 1/24/24 at 9:59 am to boxcarbarney
Great song. Great album, too. EPIC album.
Posted on 1/24/24 at 10:57 am to boxcarbarney
Love this song.
Posted on 1/24/24 at 11:11 am to MorbidTheClown
right now in my head...
Lifeson's riff to:
Jump to the ground as the Turbo slows to cross the borderline
Lifeson's riff to:
Jump to the ground as the Turbo slows to cross the borderline
Posted on 1/24/24 at 11:11 am to boxcarbarney
"On Sundays I elude the eyes and hop the turbine freight to far outside the wire. . ."
That and "before the motor law" set the dystopian, futuristic scene for me. But, I was 18, fresh off 2112 and Hemispheres, and listening to an album the day it came out.
That and "before the motor law" set the dystopian, futuristic scene for me. But, I was 18, fresh off 2112 and Hemispheres, and listening to an album the day it came out.
Posted on 1/24/24 at 11:37 am to boxcarbarney
Such a fantastic song. The music is in constant crescendo that parallels the telling of the story. Then falls off at the end. That song has so much going on in it. One of my favorites.
Posted on 1/24/24 at 11:53 am to boxcarbarney
I adore this song. The whole album, really, but Red Barchetta in particular. It's easily my favorite driving song. I bought the 40th anniversary super deluxe vinyl box set when it came out. It comes with a mini diecast Red Barchetta.
Posted on 1/24/24 at 1:23 pm to Saint Alfonzo
quote:
I adore this song.
Same, it is nearly a perfect song to me. But I can't say I know anything about music, only what I like. The music seems to perfectly match the lyrics and convey the feeling the words are expressing.
Posted on 1/24/24 at 1:38 pm to mdomingue
Right at the top tier of my favorite songs
Posted on 1/24/24 at 1:44 pm to Bayou
Probably my favorite song on the album.
Posted on 1/24/24 at 1:53 pm to boxcarbarney
On regular rotation on my Spotify playlist sessions
Posted on 1/24/24 at 2:46 pm to JumpingTheShark
The musical version of 1984, except with cars.
Posted on 1/24/24 at 2:46 pm to boxcarbarney
Another example of Neil Peart’s focus on oppression and rebelling against it.
A master writer and drummer (of course).
A master writer and drummer (of course).
This post was edited on 1/24/24 at 2:48 pm
Posted on 1/24/24 at 3:34 pm to TejasHorn
I know this. If it’s been my dearest dream to keep the car as new for 50 odd years, I’ll be damned if I’m letting my joyriding nephew hop behind the wheel every week.
Posted on 1/24/24 at 11:21 pm to High C
On an album full of killer signature riffs....Red Barchetta's might be my favorite.
Posted on 1/25/24 at 1:32 pm to UKWildcats
Posted on 1/25/24 at 2:36 pm to Bayou
Remember buying the Moving Pictures cassette for Tom Sawyer. Didn't have a FF or RW on my car tape deck so I just listened all the way through. First time Red Barchetta came on I was like "damn! that's a cool song".
Limelight and YYZ were on the same tape.
Limelight and YYZ were on the same tape.
Posted on 1/25/24 at 3:25 pm to Red Boarman
Its peaceful for me, particularly that outro. I could listen to that for hours.
Posted on 1/26/24 at 7:35 am to boxcarbarney
I too was 14 years old and soon to be 15 in 1981. This song and album bring back so many memories! What a masterpiece!!
Red Barchetta
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.
Red Barchetta
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.
Posted on 1/26/24 at 9:39 am to High C
quote:
I know this. If it’s been my dearest dream to keep the car as new for 50 odd years, I’ll be damned if I’m letting my joyriding nephew hop behind the wheel every week.
The car was kept in pristine condition specifically for the nephew.
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
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