Four students in the usual light of day
Set out to speak their minds about the war
Unaware that Eddie Pru was on the way
Things had to snap before they knew the score
They were driving through mythical America
A Rooney-Garland show was in the barn
Fields was at the Pussycat Cafe
No-one had even heard of Herman Kahn
And Jersey Joe was eager for the fray
Four students had to take it in their stride
And couldn't feel the road beneath the wheels
Of the car they didn't know they rode inside
Across the set and through the cardboard hills
They were driving through mythical America
They sold their Studebaker Golden Hawk
And bought a Nash Ambassador Saloon
Bogart said "Even the dead can talk"
And suddenly the coats were all raccoon
Four students never knew that this was it
There isn't much a target needs to know
Already Babyface had made the hit
And Rosebud was upended in the snow
They were driving through mythical America
Gatsby floated broken in the pool
The Kansas City Seven found a groove
Barrymore and Lombard played the fool
And Cheetah slowly taught John Wayne to move
Four students watched the soldiers load and aim
And never tumbled they were on the spot
Moose Molloy pulled ten years on a frame
The dough was phoney and the car was hot
They were driving through mythical America
Henry Ford paid seven bucks a day
Rockwell did the covers on the Post
FDR set up the TVA
And the stars rode silver trains from coast to coast
Four students blinked at ordinary skies
But the sunlight came from thousands of motels
A highway through the night was in their eyes
And waiting at the roadblock Orson Welles
They were driving through mythical America
Four students never guessed that they were through
Their history had them covered like a gun
It hit them like a bolt out of the blue
Too quick to grasp and far too late to run
They crashed and died together in the sun
They were driving through mythical America
Set out to speak their minds about the war
Unaware that Eddie Pru was on the way
Things had to snap before they knew the score
They were driving through mythical America
A Rooney-Garland show was in the barn
Fields was at the Pussycat Cafe
No-one had even heard of Herman Kahn
And Jersey Joe was eager for the fray
Four students had to take it in their stride
And couldn't feel the road beneath the wheels
Of the car they didn't know they rode inside
Across the set and through the cardboard hills
They were driving through mythical America
They sold their Studebaker Golden Hawk
And bought a Nash Ambassador Saloon
Bogart said "Even the dead can talk"
And suddenly the coats were all raccoon
Four students never knew that this was it
There isn't much a target needs to know
Already Babyface had made the hit
And Rosebud was upended in the snow
They were driving through mythical America
Gatsby floated broken in the pool
The Kansas City Seven found a groove
Barrymore and Lombard played the fool
And Cheetah slowly taught John Wayne to move
Four students watched the soldiers load and aim
And never tumbled they were on the spot
Moose Molloy pulled ten years on a frame
The dough was phoney and the car was hot
They were driving through mythical America
Henry Ford paid seven bucks a day
Rockwell did the covers on the Post
FDR set up the TVA
And the stars rode silver trains from coast to coast
Four students blinked at ordinary skies
But the sunlight came from thousands of motels
A highway through the night was in their eyes
And waiting at the roadblock Orson Welles
They were driving through mythical America
Four students never guessed that they were through
Their history had them covered like a gun
It hit them like a bolt out of the blue
Too quick to grasp and far too late to run
They crashed and died together in the sun
They were driving through mythical America
Contributed by Bartleby - 2011/12/21 - 13:36
×
![]()
Note for non-Italian users: Sorry, though the interface of this website is translated into English, most commentaries and biographies are in Italian and/or in other languages like French, German, Spanish, Russian etc.
Canzone che dà il titolo a questo secondo album di Pete Atkin e Clive James.
Parole di Clive James
Musica di Pete Atkin
Come Hey Sandy, The Kent State Massacre, Jackson-Kent Blues e, soprattutto, Ohio, ancora una canzone su di un evento che sconvolse l’opinione pubblica americana e mondiale, il massacro nei campus della Kent e della Jackson University, quando tutti capirono che il governo di Nixon non solo trucidava i vietnamiti, non solo mandava a morire i suoi giovani in Vietnam ma assassinava i propri cittadini anche negli USA…
Un testo molto ricco di riferimenti letterari e cinematografici, per la cui comprensione rimando alle note degli autori.