Interpretations
KN Interpretation
With a metaphor of the highway Pat Donahue laments of the “Great Divide”
between the societal wasteland of religious and political views, the machine’s power & influence on vulnerable, ignorant souls in an endless, futile pursuit of truth, right, & wrong.
The song’s contrast is a folksy, lightly bluesy, melodic tune against an understated, yet powerful, lyrical expression of angst and inner conflict. The songwriter poignantly culminates the song’s message with a “warning” of muddling through the falseness, finding one’s own truth, routing our own safe journey into the great unknown.
DB Interpretation
Strikes at the tension and vastness between lost and alone, light and darkness, hope and despair, now and eternity -- really gets you beyond the daily grind of life's everyday little hassles. Almost crushes you with feeling alone and lost in the universe, no one cares -- and then brings up with you finding your own road and seeing a great love and a great hope. In a microcosm this is the battle within our own hearts - love and hate, truth and lies, lost and found. Great stuff!!
Trivia
Pat Donahue is widely recognized in the Twin Cities. A wonderful musician & songwriter, he’s connected to Prairie Home Companion, and also with Red House Records/St. Paul. While he plays the big theatres like Fitzgerald, etc., we discovered that you can find him periodically playing under an alias at places like Dunn Brothers on Grand Avenue.
