This song was written by Chris long ago. He tells us it has been jammed and kicked around in a thousand fashions. The irresistible pull of the guitars in the verses made us think of highway driving- a cool night breeze, and all that. It’s great when a song comes together like this, as if it was meant to be. I like how the word “twinkling” creates a sense of timelessness. It was short step from the dark, cool highway to what our main character was driving away from.
“Dynamite doesn’t teach, it awakens”
These words appear in the Tom Robbins masterpiece, Still Life with Woodpecker. If you like great stories go out and get it. One of its central figures is the righteous outlaw Bernard Mickey Wrangle. In the Dark Tower Series by Stephan King, you will meet Roland, the Gunslinger. It is from these and similar sources that we compiled the character for Collateral Damage.
He is the righteous outlaw, he is the vindicator. He is a fan of making his own fate, he “flexes against the road’s lines.” He appears in my book and in my dreams. He has this whole song about him looking in his rear view mirror and smiling.
I had first thought to structure the lyrics to this song in a mysterious and eluding way, as evidenced in the first two verses. Maybe it’s all the “Emo” on the radio nowadays but mysterious started to seem cheesier and tackier so I decided to lay it out straight. It’s very empowering to believe in this kind of craziness, it makes you feel invincible. The concept came together very quickly and just needed some polishing before it was set. I think that “…the best thing about leaving early…” clears everything up very nicely. We can all smile as we zoom back into the rear view mirror of his Lincoln Town car.
Tricks and Highlights
1)That is a “flanger” you ear over Keith’s guitar through most of the song. It creates the classic sweepy sound. A stronger or laser-like version of that is known as a “phaser”.
2)This song has one of the strongest rhythmic sections underneath Chris Haspeck’s guitar solo. Jeremy, Keith, and Nick are all playing very simple pieces, giving the section a very powerful groove. If you can zone out the guitar solo for a second it makes me think of the Tazmanian Devil from Sunday morning cartoons. Remember how he could spin around and he was invincible, like a tornado? That rhythmic piece has the same power. If you threw a brick at that rhythm piece it would bounce back and hurt someone!
3) Did you catch how the guitar solo runs on for an extra measure before the final passage of vocals start? It’s an interesting trick which leaves the main character just three bars to convey his final thoughts. Picture him grinning, maybe tossing a cigar butt, maybe givin’ her a little more gas; flying down the highway.
