Motoring
Writers - Tennant/Lowe
Unreleased
Recorded during the Release sessions and not yet officially released, this highly "techno-oriented" track, full of jagged rhythms and harmonic dissonance, surfaced on an unauthorized disc of "November 2000 demos." On first listen (when not carefully listening to the lyrics) it strikes you as simply extolling the joys of speeding down the freeway. And, at one very real level, it is precisely that. As the opening lines put it, "The open road—a dream of freedom…. For to live is to drive in fast cars." But though the Boys make no bones about how much fun driving can be, they also make no bones about the deeper, more sinister implications of doing so. Pleasure, as is so often the case, comes at a price.
First consider the ecological impact of driving merely for pleasure. "There's so much to enjoy—to pollute, to destroy." Pleasure and environmental destruction seem to go hand-in-hand when "there's a planet to kill." But, beyond that, ponder the element of masculine psychosexual aggression—what's sometimes referred to only half-facetiously as "testosterone poisoning." And indeed Neil unmistakeably directs his critique toward the masculine half of humanity in the lyric's most pointed couplet—
Come—every man, every boy
How much can you destroy?
—turning not only driving but environmental desecration itself into a competitive sport.
Perhaps it's all a bit heavy-handed, but sometimes it takes a slap to jar someone to his senses. Not that such a song can make any real difference, but at least our heroes make their own positions on the matter known. That is, if they do ultimately decide to release this track and thereby make it "official."
Incidentally, this song represents a remarkable turnaround in light of the Boys' scathing putdown of rock stars who "preach and teach the whole world about ecology" in 1990's "How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously?" Then again, Neil is somewhat less open to charges of hypocrisy considering that, at the time they wrote this song, he didn't drive and had never had a driver's license—circumstances that changed in 2008 after he took driving lessons and passed his license exam.
Word from within the PSB organization has indicated that "Motoring" will be included on a "Further Listening" bonus disc accompanying one of several album reissues (probably Release) tentatively scheduled for 2017.
List cross-references
All text on this website aside from direct quotations (such as of lyrics and of other nonoriginal content) is copyright © 2001-2016 by Wayne Studer. All Rights Reserved. All lyrics and images are copyright © their respective dates by their respective owners. Brief quotations and small, low-resolution images are used for identification and critical commentary, thereby constituting Fair Use under U.S. copyright law. Billboard chart data are copyright © their respective dates by Nielsen Business Media, Inc.