Bullseye! Here's an excerpt from Rolling Stone's (RS.com) interview with Greg Brown who wrote the song and explains its meaning. He also explains about why the race car metaphor is used.
RS.COM: Will the success of The Distance" mean you'll be writing more songs?
GREG BROWN: Man, I sure hope so. I was delighted that John was receptive to it, because he's been writing songs for a long time. It was the only song I wrote to appear on the record. I'm really happy with it. John did a great vocal track. Victor (Damiani) put down a good bass line, and Vincent (di Fiore) came up with a cool trumpet part.
RS.COM: What's the song about?
GB: I wrote it about a relationship of mine. It's about a guy who races and races, even after the race is over. He's basically clueless. I used the race car metaphor so it wouldn't be so sentimental ... it seemed apt.
RS.COM:Is sarcasm a difficult device to pull off in song writing?
GB: Well, I'm not a sarcastic guitarist, but it's pretty recurrent in our songs. John uses it probably for the same reason I used the race car metaphor in "Distance": to basically distance himself from the song.
@KustomKandy and @Dragonette
Bullseye! Here's an excerpt from Rolling Stone's (RS.com) interview with Greg Brown who wrote the song and explains its meaning. He also explains about why the race car metaphor is used.
RS.COM: Will the success of The Distance" mean you'll be writing more songs?
GREG BROWN: Man, I sure hope so. I was delighted that John was receptive to it, because he's been writing songs for a long time. It was the only song I wrote to appear on the record. I'm really happy with it. John did a great vocal track. Victor (Damiani) put down a good bass line, and Vincent (di Fiore) came up with a cool trumpet part.
RS.COM: What's the song about?
GB: I wrote it about a relationship of mine. It's about a guy who races and races, even after the race is over. He's basically clueless. I used the race car metaphor so it wouldn't be so sentimental ... it seemed apt.
RS.COM:Is sarcasm a difficult device to pull off in song writing?
GB: Well, I'm not a sarcastic guitarist, but it's pretty recurrent in our songs. John uses it probably for the same reason I used the race car metaphor in "Distance": to basically distance himself from the song.