The third in my series of songs based on Flannery O'Connor stories, this one is inspired by the third story in the A Good Man Is Hard To Find collection, "The Life You Save May Be Your Own." Although this didn't perfectly sync with Emily's assignment to write about a specific place, I'd argue that this story largely concerns the road, and freedom. When the protagonist of the story, Tom Shiftlet, completes his con by stealing a car and leaving his unwitting bride for lost at a roadside restaurant, he's struggling to find a freedom he's never had - I love the line "there's always the road/but I've never had the speed." He continues down the road, barely ahead of a storm, and he imagines some sort of refuge at his next stop, Mobile. So I'd argue that this is a song about seeking a place that's really an anti-place: the not-here, the road, the possibilities beyond.
Another one-take wonder, no fixed mistakes, no edits. Keeping 'em raw this time!
lyrics
angel in her sleep
nary said a word
but I got places I gotta be
no one ever knows
what’s inside a heart
a man could steal the salt from the sea
but I’ve got the wheels
you wanna ride?
Maybe I ain’t
the man I could be
there’s always the road
but I’ve never had the speed
but I’ll take what I use
and I’ll use what I’ll steal
Gonna chase down this storm
All the way to Mobile
it’s rotten, through and through
hard to find an edge
damaged from the day of my birth
don’t call me by my name
lord come make it rain
come and wash this scum from the earth
but I’ve got the wheels
you wanna ride?
Maybe I ain’t
the man I could be
there’s always the road
but I’ve never had the speed
but I’ll take what I use
and I’ll use what I’ll steal
Gonna chase down this storm
All the way to Mobile
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