Brandon Coale Notes

One of my favorite bands is Rush, and I realize they are from Canada but the Rush guys loved late 20th century America and their song Red Barchetta is a great song to highlight on this American holiday week.  Red Barchetta is the perfect song for summertime driving and I believe it captures the freedom loving American spirit still alive in many Americans.  A couple good quotes related to the song from the documentary Rush Classic Albums 2112/Moving Pictures:

“The car I loved at the time, and still do really, is the Ferrari 166 Mille Miglia Barchetta.”  – Neil Peart

“He just had this fantasy about a time when cars were not allowed.  We tell this little story, this cautionary tale, about beating the car police.” – Geddy Lee

John Stossel reported on his YouTube channel back in April that Uncle Sam has more and more plans for control and monitoring of our automobiles, video linked below.  I’d like to think the Rush guys would be disappointed in these plans as well.  It is sad that it has come to this, but fingers crossed there will be enough push back from congress people like Thomas Massie(R-Kentucky) and citizens like John Stossel to stop these loss of freedoms.  Red Barchetta is a timeless, great escapist song for people who long for more freedoms in troubled times like today, and it has some of my favorite Neil Peart drumming. This is my favorite quote from the documentary Rush Classic Albums 2112/Moving Pictures:

“To me, it’s about freedom, it’s about how can I get away from what’s happening?  When did we lose all the fun? When did we lose the spirit?  Red Barchetta, to me, was like a fight to get the spirit back.”

In June 2021 I went with Mike and Vicki and saw the band “The Rush Tribute Project” (https://rushtributeproject.com) in Gaylord.  If you ever get a chance to see this Rush tribute band, they do a great job and it is wonderful that they are carrying on the tradition after Neil Peart’s passing. Lyrics to Red Barchetta:

My uncle has a country place
That no one knows about
He says it used to be a farm
Before the Motor Law
And on Sundays I elude the eyes
And hop the Turbine Freight
To far outside the Wire
Where my white-haired uncle waits

Jump to the ground
As the Turbo slows to cross the borderline
Run like the wind
As excitement shivers up and down my spine
Down in his barn
My uncle preserved for me an old machine
For fifty odd years
To keep it as new has been his dearest dream

I strip away the old debris
That hides a shining car
A brilliant red Barchetta
From a better vanished time
I fire up the willing engine
Responding with a roar
Tires spitting gravel
I commit my weekly crime

Wind
In my hair
Shifting and drifting
Mechanical music
Adrenaline surge

Well-weathered leather
Hot metal and oil
The scented country air
Sunlight on chrome
The blur of the landscape
Every nerve aware

Suddenly ahead of me
Across the mountainside
A gleaming alloy air car
Shoots towards me, two lanes wide
I spin around with shrieking tires
To run the deadly race
Go screaming through the valley
As another joins the chase

Drive like the wind
Straining the limits of machine and man
Laughing out loud with fear and hope
I’ve got a desperate plan
At the one-lane bridge
I leave the giants stranded at the riverside
Race back to the farm
To dream with my uncle at the fireside