Great Songs from My Favorite Year in Music: 1985, Part 25

R.E.M. - "Driver 8"



(Single Release: September 1985)
I think "Driver 8" can be pinpointed as being the moment when I fell in love with R.E.M. I can't attribute that love to any one element of the song. Peter Buck's country rock guitar jangle, the almost Schoolhouse Rock quality to the lyrics, Mike MIlls' backup vocals, and the glorified rural imagery became enmeshed in a memorable and powerful song. Further, all of these things seemed to be rehearsal for even more great songs to come, such as the Mills backup vocals in "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)."

And the train conductor says, "Take a break, Driver 8. Driver 8, take a break, we can reach our destination...but we're still a ways away."

These lyrics, to me, seemed mythic. We get so much to read into with so few words. We know there's an engine driver and we can assume he's been working too long or too hard and needs to rest up because it's a long journey that is nowhere near completion. There is almost a John Henry or Paul Bunyan aspect to the story. The anonymous Driver 8 is our hero, or at least a symbol of a bygone age. The world is rapidly changing around the time of the song. Things are being built, there are now devices for airplanes, and the age of rail is coming to an end. Anyone who has seen power lines with floaters are immediately taken to that image when Michael Stipe mentions them. I remember seeing them on power lines across California Interstate 15. My mind goes there every time I hear this song. I also remember the first time I put together the Southern rural imagery of this song, and the age of rail, with the title of the album, Fables of the Reconstruction. Yes, it took me longer than I care to admit. But, these tales of the post-Civil War Industrial Age are all part of a larger mosaic. Does anybody really do this anymore? The answer is yes (see: Titus Andronicus), but not nearly as often as it should. Especially now, in this a la carte digital era of music, what is the point of making an album if the songs don't hang together in some way and become larger as the sum than as individual pieces? But, I digress. "Driver 8" sent me on a lifelong journey with R.E.M., metaphorically gazing out the window at wheat and corn fields whizzing by, row ends stretching into a single horizon point, telephone poles blurring in the foreground. The South has, at least musically, risen again, and a lot of it thanks to R.E.M., but has also seen great hip-hop, a metal renaissance, and blistering post-rock.

"Bells are ringing through the town again..."