Tuesday, September 22, 2009

The story behind Rush's Red Barchetta


I've long liked the evocative lyrics behind Rush's song Red Barchetta, which tells about a guy going out to the country to take a secret drive in a sportscar his uncle hid away for him, in a world that seems bent on destroying great cars. It's even more fun when you learn Rush drummer Neal Peart wrote the lyrics based on a sci-fi short story. Less fun is learning the actual story is kind of about car safety regulations gone wild. Still. The idea of sharing a nostalgic moment with an uncle like that always got me.

Now, pre-Intertubes, the trivia of the song's origin was mentioned here and there, but that would be all you'd get. Nowadays you can find the full text of the story "A Nice Morning Drive" by Richard S. Foster online, which is nice since it was originally published in a car magazine and so presumably hard to find.

Here are the lyrics to the song itself, so you can memorize them and sing them at me when we meet. Oh, and props to my brutha Joshua DaMommio for introducing me to the song in the first place, way back in high school.

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