Bad Weather Road

click for lyrics

Oh boy, did we ever have trouble with this song. Even though the demo sounded great, try as we might we just couldn’t get that energy to translate to the album version. I was about to give up the ghost when in a moment straight out of the Brian Eno handbook, our bass player Paul patched his bass through the filter section of a Moog synth which created a bubbling noise that gently rose up out of the note right after he played it. In addition, our producer Mike Varty put the opening bars through an external speaker and recorded the results which give it the sound of someone listening to the band from outside the room.

For some reason, everything clicked after those two bits of inspiration and we managed to complete the song with huge smiles on our faces. It just goes to show that the devil is in the detail.

Simon

I didn't actually like this song at first, but luckily I had two images stuck in my head. One was a tatty old truck with no cabin flying down a broken down desert road with a madman at the controls, and the other was Destiny. The song is about the voice that whispers in your ear as you try and steer the broken old truck at eighty-five miles an hour down a bunch of roads that all look the same until it's too late.

Robert

You start slow, all fours
It’s just a track
Y’stand up, under the sun
To tell your stories
Write them
Sell them
You build it straight out and strong

And me?
I read the signs
I take the turns
To push you on
Across the line
Another mile
Against your will
As you create
Bad Weather Road

You see it’s a personal quest
Keeping this truck on track
Steering towards the best
Save or damn me
Passenger on your own
Open against the sky
Flying against the bone
I’ll keep driving

Smooth out your brow
Watch your TV
Stare like a portrait on the wall
You’re listening now
Listening to me
Though you don’t realise at all

And me?
I read the signs
I take the turns
To push you on
Across the line
Another mile
Against your will
As you create —

You see it’s a personal quest
Keeping this truck on track
Steering towards the best
Save or damn me

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