Driver 8
R.E.M. * Track #3 On Fables of the Reconstruction
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Album Fables of the Reconstruction
Driver 8 by R.E.M.
Release Date
Performed by
R.E.M.Produced by
Joe BoydWrited by
Bill Berry & Peter Buck & Mike Mills & Michael StipeAbout
The song refers to the Southern Crescent, a passenger train operated by the Southern Railroad until 1979, and continues today (with fewer stops) as the Amtrak Crescent.
Driver 8 Lyrics
[Verse 1]
The walls are built up, stone by stone
The fields divided one by one
And the train conductor says, “Take a break, Driver 8
Driver 8, take a break, we've been on this shift too long”
[Chorus]
And the train conductor says
(Driver 8) “Take a break, Driver 8
(Driver 8) Driver 8, take a break
We can reach our destination
We're still a ways away”
(But it's still a ways away)
[Verse 2]
I saw a treehouse on the outskirts of the farm
The power lines have floaters so the airplanes won't get snagged
The bells are ringing through the town again
The children look up, all they hear is sky-blue bells ringing
[Chorus]
And the train conductor says
(Driver 8) “Take a break, Driver 8
(Driver 8) Driver 8, take a break
We can reach our destination
But we're still a ways away.”
(But it's still a ways away)
But we're still a ways away
(But it's still a ways away)
[Bridge]
A way to shield the hated heat
A way to put myself to sleep
A way to shield the hated heat
A way to put myself, my children to sleep
[Verse 3]
He piloted this song in a plane like that one
She is selling faith on the Go Tell crusade
Locomotive 8, Southern Crescent, hear the bells ring again
In the fields the wheat is lookin' thin
[Chorus]
And the train conductor says
(Driver 8) “Take a break, Driver 8
(Driver 8) Driver 8, take a break
We've been on this shift too long”
And the train conductor says
“Take a break, Driver 8
Driver 8, take a break
We can reach our destination
We're still a ways away”
(But it's still a ways away)
But we're still a ways away
(But it's still a ways away)
Driver 8 Q&A
Who wrote Driver 8's ?
Driver 8 was written by Bill Berry & Peter Buck & Mike Mills & Michael Stipe.
Who produced Driver 8's ?
Driver 8 was produced by Joe Boyd.
What did R.E.M. say about "Driver 8"?
In Marcus Gray’s It Crawled from the South, (1996, 2nd ed.), Stipe says that Driver 8 was one of those R.E.M. songs that he “saw, before he wrote”. This may give insight to its sense of cinema and motion.