Sunday, 28 December 2008

Dubious Song Lyrics #2 'I Drove All Night'

Firstly, I have to say that this is one of my all-time favourite songs, and the recent BBC4 Roy Orbison night served to remind me exactly why he was so great. As such, it is with a heavy heart that I subject Roy to lyrical cross-examination...

On first listen, it's a linear narrative - 'Roy' was a long way from home, but was so desperate to see his wife or girlfriend that he drove through the night, just so they could be together at the earliest opportunity. However, due to what I can only assume is songwriting expediency (it gave the song a nice melody) he ends each chorus with the question 'is that all right?' The careful listener will realise that this is where Roy comes unstuck:

'I drove all night to get to you / Is that all right? / I drove all night, crept in your room / Woke you from your sleep to make love to you / Is that all right? / I drove all night'

Crucially, the 'is that all right?' refrain comes after Roy has crept into the woman's bedroom and made love to her. Essentially, Roy is seeking retrospective consent for the lovemaking, which he follows up with the justification 'I drove all night' as in 'Having driven all night I assumed I could do what I felt like'. 

And why did he creep into the room if he was going to wake her up anyway? Either he's lying about the creeping or the waking ...

On one level, this is dubious even if the woman in question was Roy's wife or girlfriend - you'd assume he'd have established at least some sort of tacit consent before the lovemaking, be it a nod, a wink or a 'brace yourself'. Why on earth would he be asking 'is that all right?' after the fact?

An even more sinister reading is that Roy was not in a relationship with this woman - he had admired her from afar and decided that 'lovemaking' would happen whether she liked it or not.'The fever for [her] was burning [him] up inside.' 

To take it a stage further, this notion, coupled with the fact the lyric is in the past tense, brings to mind an image of Roy attempting to justify his actions in court. 

When asked for his testimony, Roy looked earnestly from the dock, and pointed out that, in all fairness, he had driven 'all night'. 






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