Driving Wheels Lyric Analysis

Driving Wheels
As previously mentioned, Jimmy Barnes was a voice for the 'Working Class Man'. This mainly referred to truck drivers, as seen in the music video for Driving Wheels. Driving Wheels was a largely popular song among truck drivers because the lyrics describe 'living on borrowed time' and 'he's been up and down this road so many times'. 

Barnes wrote his lyrics this way to appeal to the nature of truck drivers and to reach them on a personal level. Not just 'do your job' but 'I've been there'.   

The song tells a story and through this Barnes can connect with his audience and create a bond between the vocalist and the listener. The lyrics are what gets the point across to his audience.

Exert from lyrics:





Well he's following the broken lines
Living on borrowed time
Motel rooms and broken hearts all left behind
You swear he couldn't close his eyes
As he shifts into overdrive
He's been up and down this road so many times

Here Barnes is capturing the pure essence of what it is like to be a truck driver, this pulls his audience in the moment they hear the first line. The instant bond that is created is like a 'me too' type of bond. The lyrics are fundamental to the song, without them the song would have a totally different meaning. The next line gives us reason to believe that the man in the story hasn't been able to settle down because he is always on the move. 

You swear he couldn't close his eyes.
This again relates to truck drivers because they can work up to twelve hours in a day, then they must stop for at lest eight hours. Most of the time this eight hours is not enough and before you know it, you're back on the road. 


As he shifts into overdrive
He's been up and down this road so many times
If you couldn't get it before, now it is evident that the man is driving. The second line here refers to the singular run that many truck drivers are assigned. They get to know their roads perfectly, right down to every pothole. 

Anyways:
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