One Headlight
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Vinyl single - USA - 1st edition. |
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One Headlight is a song by The Wallflowers first published as track 1 on Bringing Down the Horse on 1996-05-21, then released as the album's second single on 1997-01-27 cut to be about 40 seconds shorter with an acoustic version of 6th Avenue Heartache and a live version of Angel on My Bike as B-sides. The song was composed by Jakob Dylan and produced by T-Bone Burnett. A promotional album was also released with both the album and single versions on it.
On the album recording Dylan sings lead vocals and plays rhythm guitar, Jon Brion plays lead guitar, Matt Chamberlain plays drums, Rami Jaffee plays the Hammond B3 organ, Greg Richling plays bass guitar, and backing vocals are sung by Michael Ward, Gary Louris, and Sam Phillips.
The song is sung from the perspective of a man at the funeral of a young woman he Dylan explained that the song is about "the death of ideas".
Contents
Personal
I had heard this song on the radio not too long after it was released, but it didn't mean much to me. However, shortly thereafter, it came on the radio while I was riding along with my older brother. He liked the song and even sang a couple of the lyrics, which caused me to appreciate it more. I ended up buying the album a little while after, and, while all of the songs on it are worth listening to, this one remains far-and-away my favorite.
There is a nice build-up in the intro. I like the distorted electric guitar throughout the song and the Hammond organ, together they give the song a melancholy sound. In the lyrics, I love, "This place is always such a mess, sometimes I think I'd like to watch it burn," and I also like the extra beat before the final, "we can drive it home."
Lyrics
So long ago, I don't remember when. That's when they say I lost my only friend. Well they said she died easy of a broken heart disease, As I listened through the cemetery trees. I seen the sun comin' up at the funeral at dawn. The long broken arm of human law. Now, it always seemed such a waste, She always had a pretty face, So, I wondered how she hung around this place. Hey! Come on try a little, Nothing is forever. There's got to be something better than, In the middle. Me and Cinderella, We put it all together. We can drive it home, With one headlight. She said "it's cold, It feels like Independence Day, And I can't break away from this parade. But there's got to be an opening, Somewhere here in front of me, Through this maze of ugliness and greed." And I seen the sun up ahead, At the county line bridge, Sayin' all there's good and nothingness is dead. We'll run until she's out of breath, She ran until there's nothin' left, She hit the end, it's just her window ledge. Heeey! Come on try a little, Nothing is forever. There's got to be something better than, In the middle. But me and Cinderella, We put it all together. We can drive it home, With one headlight. Well this place is old, It feels just like a beat up truck. I turn the engine, but the engine doesn't turn. Well, it smells of cheapo wine and cigarettes, This place is always such a mess, Sometimes I think I'd like to watch it burn. I'm so alone, and I feel just like somebody else, Man, I ain't changed, but I know I ain't the same. But, somewhere here in between the city walls of dyin' dreams, I think her death it must be killin' me. Hey, hey, heeey! Come on try a little, Nothing is forever. There's got to be something better than, In the middle. But me and Cinderella, We put it all together. We can drive it home, With one headlight.
Media
Album Art
The album cover is, for some strange reason, a fan. It has a watermark similar to a 1 dollar bill. The vinyl single has the full art, the CD releases used cardboard sleeves which always cropped the art at the top and bottom.
7" vinyl.
Videos
Links
