Songs About Driving Cars on Roads and Highways
America's Passion for Cars and The American Philosophy of Cars -- Expressed in Songs About Driving Cars on Roads and Highways -- Spiritually Understood
by Dr. Leon James 2007
To Introduction: Part 2
America's Passion for Cars and The American Philosophy of Cars -- Expressed in Songs About Driving Cars on Roads and Highways -- Spiritually Understood
by Dr. Leon James 2007
To Introduction: Part 2
To Introduction: Part 5
Introduction: Part 1
The following song lyrics are selections from a library of Road Songs collected by Richard F. Weingroff at the Federal Highway Administration Web site. These selections reflect my interest in driving psychology and theistic psychology.
Songs are both descriptive of outer life and symbolic of spiritual feelings and insights. The lyrics reflect this dual aspect of the poetry and wisdom in songs. The outer life gives physical content to spiritual longings and perceptions. Cars driven on roads connecting departure point and destination are physical objects that serve our mental intentions and desires.
There is a two-fold message or dual meaning in all the song lyrics about cars and roads. Our mental stream is our life and we use cars to search for relief from mental streams that are disturbing. We use cars to escape feeling imprisoned. The prison is not physical; it is our own mental prison. Thoughts and passions drive our mental life, in correspondence to cars and roads that we drive to satisfy our mental condition. The song lyrics about driving cars on roads express the writer's meaning at two levels, literal and spiritual.
The literal meaning of each verse expresses the writer's philosophy of life and its physical expression through cars or trucks ("vehicles") driven by people who are in various mental states that are often gripping, but sometimes just ordinary in its recurrence in everyone's experience. For instance, someone is running away from something using a car or hitchhiking; or, someone is hitting the open road finally relieved and feeling free; or someone is watching the lights of 18-wheelers in the night; or, someone is speeding down the road to meet a sweetheart; and so on. Through these physical and social events with cars the song writers express a philosophy of life that is either depressing or exhilarating, but always worth reflecting on. But at a deeper level of meaning of each verse the song writers express a universal truth about the human mind, thus about each of us. The philosophical and social meaning expressed in the literal verses do not apply universally, but only to restricted socio-cultural experiences, like being a truck driver, or stopping at a truck stop when you're not, or, running away from your parents. On the other hand, the deeper spiritual meaning applies unconditionally to every human being.
What are deeper level meanings?
The human mind has natural mind and a spiritual mind. The natural mind contains incoming information from the senses of the physical body, like the places around us, the objects, and people. Our conscious thinking in daily life and activities is carried out by mental operations in the natural mind. Everything we know in this world resides in the natural mind. The spiritual mind contains incoming information from the senses of the spiritual body of which we are unconscious until after death. The content of the natural mind and the content of the spiritual mind are connected to each other by cause-effect laws called the laws of correspondences, to be discussed below.
Song writers are often inspired from a deeper level of perception or knowing, and they express this higher or inner perception in literal terms of physical and social events that correspond to the spiritual meaning and insight. It is valuable therefore for us to try to analyze the lyrics to see if its spiritual meaning can be extracted from it in order to accurately represent the deeper insight of the song writers and other inspired writers. Once we get hold of their spiritual insights or perceptions and convert them into our words, these insights become serviceable and useful to all of us since they are about the human mind, thus, every human being's mind. By extracting the spiritual meaning we are simply mining the spiritual depths of the song writer's enlightenment or vision of the human mind.
Remember: the literal content of the song (driving cars on roads) voices a certain philosophy of community life, a social and psychological outlook, but the spiritual content hidden within this expresses a universal truth or reality that applies to every mind, to us. The spiritual content being "deeper" is also "higher," which means it comes first, like the head comes before other parts of the body when it comes to identity and reputation. The higher or deeper is also primary. The spiritual is primary, the natural is secondary. This means that the spiritual content comes first and is the cause of what comes next, which is the effect or natural content (literal meaning of the verse).
The spiritual content involves the principles that govern the mental world of the human race. There is only one universal mental world for the human race, just as there is only universal physical space for all the stars, planets, objects, and atoms. Every individual's mind is therefore located in the same mental world. There is no individual anywhere whose thoughts and feelings are not located in the mental world of the human race, just as there is no planet or atom that is not located in the universal space of the physical universe. This means that the same laws of the mental world, sometimes called spiritual laws, apply to every human mind or individual. Your thoughts and feelings, and my thoughts and feelings, are located in the same mental world and are subject to the same mental laws.
To summarize: the literal meaning of verses contain words about the physical and social world as these reflect our thoughts in the conscious natural mind. These words and ideas are effects. They are produced by deeper level words and ideas called spiritual meanings. These spiritual meanings are rational insights about the mental world of humanity in which we all are and whose laws govern our thoughts and feelings. Our happiness and intelligence are consequences of how we apply these higher mental principles (causes of things) to the lower or more external and restricted experiences we have at the physical level.
Viewed spiritually driving cars on roads represents what people do in the mental world of human minds.
To travel or to transport something correspond to the thinking process in which a thought or idea ( = car) is processed or examined by various reasoning procedures ( = transportation) that are connected together in a logical or semi-logical sequence ( = roads, streets, paths). "To floor the gas pedal" ( = natural meaning) corresponds to a harsh and selfish intention that can harm others ( = spiritual meaning). The vehicle maneuvers of aggressive drivers ( = natural meaning) corresponds to selfish and hostile intentions against people ( = spiritual meaning).
Note that when we analyze the lyrics we go in reverse cause-effect order from how the lyrics were written. The physical event and its details about cars and roads ( = natural meaning), are the result of prior mental thoughts about mental events and their details about selfishness and harming others (= spiritual meaning). When we analyze the song we go in reverse order. First we have the natural content of cars on roads, then we extract the spiritual content of character and intention.
A car represents our knowledge and beliefs by which we can reason and have common sense in daily life here on earth in the physical world. The networks of roads and highways represent the mental semantic networks of concepts and ideas that make up our knowledge and beliefs. What we do with cars on roads are physical events described in the literal meaning of the verses. But the song writer was also motivated by a spiritual significance of these events with cars on roads. The song writers may not be conscious of the correspondences between driving events and mental events. But when they are writing under artistic inspiration from a love of truth, they spontaneously express events with cars (vehicles) that correspond to the mental feelings that they accessed and which they desire to share with others.
From: http://music.ign.com/articles/732/732341p1.html
Introduction: Part 1
The following song lyrics are selections from a library of Road Songs collected by Richard F. Weingroff at the Federal Highway Administration Web site. These selections reflect my interest in driving psychology and theistic psychology.
Songs are both descriptive of outer life and symbolic of spiritual feelings and insights. The lyrics reflect this dual aspect of the poetry and wisdom in songs. The outer life gives physical content to spiritual longings and perceptions. Cars driven on roads connecting departure point and destination are physical objects that serve our mental intentions and desires.
There is a two-fold message or dual meaning in all the song lyrics about cars and roads. Our mental stream is our life and we use cars to search for relief from mental streams that are disturbing. We use cars to escape feeling imprisoned. The prison is not physical; it is our own mental prison. Thoughts and passions drive our mental life, in correspondence to cars and roads that we drive to satisfy our mental condition. The song lyrics about driving cars on roads express the writer's meaning at two levels, literal and spiritual.
The literal meaning of each verse expresses the writer's philosophy of life and its physical expression through cars or trucks ("vehicles") driven by people who are in various mental states that are often gripping, but sometimes just ordinary in its recurrence in everyone's experience. For instance, someone is running away from something using a car or hitchhiking; or, someone is hitting the open road finally relieved and feeling free; or someone is watching the lights of 18-wheelers in the night; or, someone is speeding down the road to meet a sweetheart; and so on. Through these physical and social events with cars the song writers express a philosophy of life that is either depressing or exhilarating, but always worth reflecting on. But at a deeper level of meaning of each verse the song writers express a universal truth about the human mind, thus about each of us. The philosophical and social meaning expressed in the literal verses do not apply universally, but only to restricted socio-cultural experiences, like being a truck driver, or stopping at a truck stop when you're not, or, running away from your parents. On the other hand, the deeper spiritual meaning applies unconditionally to every human being.
What are deeper level meanings?
The human mind has natural mind and a spiritual mind. The natural mind contains incoming information from the senses of the physical body, like the places around us, the objects, and people. Our conscious thinking in daily life and activities is carried out by mental operations in the natural mind. Everything we know in this world resides in the natural mind. The spiritual mind contains incoming information from the senses of the spiritual body of which we are unconscious until after death. The content of the natural mind and the content of the spiritual mind are connected to each other by cause-effect laws called the laws of correspondences, to be discussed below.
Song writers are often inspired from a deeper level of perception or knowing, and they express this higher or inner perception in literal terms of physical and social events that correspond to the spiritual meaning and insight. It is valuable therefore for us to try to analyze the lyrics to see if its spiritual meaning can be extracted from it in order to accurately represent the deeper insight of the song writers and other inspired writers. Once we get hold of their spiritual insights or perceptions and convert them into our words, these insights become serviceable and useful to all of us since they are about the human mind, thus, every human being's mind. By extracting the spiritual meaning we are simply mining the spiritual depths of the song writer's enlightenment or vision of the human mind.
Remember: the literal content of the song (driving cars on roads) voices a certain philosophy of community life, a social and psychological outlook, but the spiritual content hidden within this expresses a universal truth or reality that applies to every mind, to us. The spiritual content being "deeper" is also "higher," which means it comes first, like the head comes before other parts of the body when it comes to identity and reputation. The higher or deeper is also primary. The spiritual is primary, the natural is secondary. This means that the spiritual content comes first and is the cause of what comes next, which is the effect or natural content (literal meaning of the verse).
The spiritual content involves the principles that govern the mental world of the human race. There is only one universal mental world for the human race, just as there is only universal physical space for all the stars, planets, objects, and atoms. Every individual's mind is therefore located in the same mental world. There is no individual anywhere whose thoughts and feelings are not located in the mental world of the human race, just as there is no planet or atom that is not located in the universal space of the physical universe. This means that the same laws of the mental world, sometimes called spiritual laws, apply to every human mind or individual. Your thoughts and feelings, and my thoughts and feelings, are located in the same mental world and are subject to the same mental laws.
To summarize: the literal meaning of verses contain words about the physical and social world as these reflect our thoughts in the conscious natural mind. These words and ideas are effects. They are produced by deeper level words and ideas called spiritual meanings. These spiritual meanings are rational insights about the mental world of humanity in which we all are and whose laws govern our thoughts and feelings. Our happiness and intelligence are consequences of how we apply these higher mental principles (causes of things) to the lower or more external and restricted experiences we have at the physical level.
Viewed spiritually driving cars on roads represents what people do in the mental world of human minds.
To travel or to transport something correspond to the thinking process in which a thought or idea ( = car) is processed or examined by various reasoning procedures ( = transportation) that are connected together in a logical or semi-logical sequence ( = roads, streets, paths). "To floor the gas pedal" ( = natural meaning) corresponds to a harsh and selfish intention that can harm others ( = spiritual meaning). The vehicle maneuvers of aggressive drivers ( = natural meaning) corresponds to selfish and hostile intentions against people ( = spiritual meaning).
Note that when we analyze the lyrics we go in reverse cause-effect order from how the lyrics were written. The physical event and its details about cars and roads ( = natural meaning), are the result of prior mental thoughts about mental events and their details about selfishness and harming others (= spiritual meaning). When we analyze the song we go in reverse order. First we have the natural content of cars on roads, then we extract the spiritual content of character and intention.
A car represents our knowledge and beliefs by which we can reason and have common sense in daily life here on earth in the physical world. The networks of roads and highways represent the mental semantic networks of concepts and ideas that make up our knowledge and beliefs. What we do with cars on roads are physical events described in the literal meaning of the verses. But the song writer was also motivated by a spiritual significance of these events with cars on roads. The song writers may not be conscious of the correspondences between driving events and mental events. But when they are writing under artistic inspiration from a love of truth, they spontaneously express events with cars (vehicles) that correspond to the mental feelings that they accessed and which they desire to share with others.
From: http://music.ign.com/articles/732/732341p1.html
"Little Red Corvette" - Prince
Move over baby (move over baby)
Gimme the keys (gimme the keys)
Im gonna try 2 tame your little red love machine (Im gonna try 2 tame your
little red love machine)…
Of course the Purple One goes straight for the jugular with innuendo up the
wazoo, never being quite clear as to whether he's talking about an actual car or
a red hot mamma. It's up to you to decide, but we're pretty sure what the end
result is (tachometer in the red, in case you're clueless).
The above points to two ways of interpreting "little red corvette." The literal meaning is about a certain car. The representational meaning is about his girlfriend or date. There is also a third meaning which I call the correspondential meaning that involves his spiritual mind. "Baby move over" corresponds to giving in to a fantasy. "Gimme the keys" corresponds to his desire to explore his fantasies. "Im gonna try 2 tame your little red love machine" corresponds to being happy living in a fantasy world.
In general we have the following natural-spiritual correspondences in relation to vehicles:
Natural Content-----Correspondential or Spiritual Content
cars, automobiles, trucks -----principles of life that teach us how to live and what to do
traveling on roads, streets, highways, autobahns, alleys-----searching for truths of life, for the right way to think
wheels, hubcap, wheels turning-----to reason about truths and goods, either correctly or falsely
driving somewhere, driver, motorist-----reasoning about what's right and wrong, trying to figure it out
honking, yelling, gesturing-----to be confused or uncertain about what's right to do
car windows, windshield, turning windshield wipers on or off-----the things we know and understand
driving at night, in a storm, in the winter-----unable to figure out whether something is true or no
driving during the day, driving at dawn, driving in sunny weather-----gathering knowledge to help us reason better
turning headlights on and off-----knowing that there is a higher power
car doors, door handles, locking and opening car doors, remote key -----ideas that help us be better persons
driving fast for thrill -----false self-confidence due to wrong ideas
passengers-----examining our own ideas and feelings
engine, motor, motor parts, motor oil-----our motives, intentions, passions
gas pedal, brakes, hand brake-----focusing on one's needs or goals
gasoline, fuel-----giving in to temptation, choosing to act against one's principles
seat belt, air bag, safety features, child restraint-----protection against false beliefs and ideas by relying on rationality or God's order and truth
roof of the car-----escapist attitude about self, not focusing on facts and realities
road side, road crossing, highway overpass, bridge-----rebellious attitude against order, doing and saying what is unreasonable
bumper to bumper traffic-----lazy attitude toward self-improvement, insufficient commitment to being good
police car, law enforcement, photo radar, traffic stop, getting ticketed-----feeling compelled, weak, unable to resist the enjoyment of what's bad -----aggressive vs. peaceful driving style
(...)
You can notice this very interesting fact: When we are saying something about our mental operations or states we use physical content to describe them. For instance, we say the "I was their target" (physical meaning) when we mean that we felt it was unfair to make us responsible for what happened (mental meaning). We say that we were "singled out" (physical meaning), when we mean that they treated us unfairly (mental meaning). We say that "they are trying to take me down" (physical meaning), when we mean that they are trying to hurt your reputation (mental meaning).
In other words, in everyday life we like to talk and think in terms of correspondences.
Mental meaning corresponds to physical meaning in ways that make sense to us. We say "higher" for noble human feelings and thoughts, and we say "lower" when discussing ignoble or barbaric feelings and thoughts. Clearly this is not coincidence, nor is it arbitrary. We "raise our eyes" to God and heaven, and we lower them to our feet and hell. We talk about "deep seated fears" ( = affects us in many situations) and about "surface involvement" ( = lack of interest or motivation). The expression "having a rough time" (physical meaning) corresponds to "being disturbed emotionally" (mental meaning). A person who acts untrustworthy and is "dishonest in character" (mental meaning) is referred to as a "snake" (physical meaning). A man who is referred to as "wolf" (physical meaning) is a predator who feigns thoughts and emotions (mental meaning) to catch a victim. When we experience concern and anxiety (mental meaning) about an issue we say that "This thing is weighing me down" (mental meaning). When we understand something being said to us (mental meaning) we say "I see." (physical meaning).
The physical meaning is also called natural meaning and content in the natural mind. The mental meaning is also called spiritual meaning and content in the spiritual mind. The two are linked by correspondence so that one (spiritual) is the cause of the other (natural).
The content in the spiritual mind (e.g., realizing that someone intends to victimize the innocent) causes the natural mind to react with natural content (e.g., "He is a dangerous wolf, a snake, a scorpion."). Swedenborg's dual consciousness allowed him to confirm these correspondences empirically. When he was conscious in the spiritual mind, thus in the mental world of the afterlife in eternity, he was conversing with some people there about predators who enjoy victimizing innocent people. He saw packs of wolves and other dangerous and noxious animal species that showed up in the surrounding area. The light around him darkened as if there was an ongoing storm. When he stopped discussing these subjects, the environment was back to normal.
While he was talking about how some people are depraved and evil, there appeared in the environment bats, vultures, scorpions, and overpowering stenches. These sensuous appearances in the mental world were evoked by correspondence that exists between evil things in the mind (spiritual content) and poisonous or noxious animals in a desert (seemingly physical content).
Correspondences are built into the fabric of reality that ties the dual universe together, the one in time and space (physical), the other in mental eternity (spiritual).
There is a relationship between correspondences and metaphors, similes, synecdoche, or other type of figures of speech, including allegories, parables, riddles. You can look up an encyclopedia online to examine what these things are. Examples of some metaphors that are listed are:
(...)
Many metaphors and figurative speech derive their root from correspondences between the natural and spiritual mind, or between the physical world and the mental world. For instance the expression listed above "That throws some light on the question." uses the correspondence between "light" (physical meaning) and "clarity of understanding" (spiritual meaning). This correspondence was confirmed by Swedenborg when he observed that the surrounding light became dimmer or more bright depending on the intelligence and understanding of the people he was talking to in his spiritual mind. Similarly, the spiritual correspondence of the expression "Cool it!" (physical meaning) was confirmed by Swedenborg's observations that when someone gets angry in the spiritual mind of eternity, flames and heat issue from his mental body into the surrounding area or sphere.
Metaphors are semantic innovations based on noticing comparable elements in two objects or events. It's only when you relate the natural to the spiritual that you obtain correspondences. Correspondences are produced spontaneously by all speakers and thinkers and no special linguistic or poetic talent is required. Metaphors are sometimes merely subjective, saying something about the person's semantic inventiveness. Correspondences are objective and universal, saying something about cause-effect reality.
The study of correspondences is therefore the study of cause-effect reality in a dual universe.
This essay continues below: Introduction: Part 2 Introduction: Part 3 Introduction: Part 4
Song Lyrics (1)-----Spiritual Meaning(correspondences)
B-52's"Love Shack"
If you see a faded sign by the side of the road that says15 miles to the... love shack!
love shack yeah
I'm headin' down the Atlanta highway, lookin' for the love getaway
Heading for the love getaway, love getaway,
I got me a car, it's as bigas a whale and we're headin' on downTo the love shack.
I'm headin' down the Atlanta highway lookin' for the love getaway
=================================
I'm running away from my commitments
I'm giving in to my baser motives.
Marcia Ball"Down the Road"
Good times down the road
Mama won't let me go
Sneaking off in my daddy's car
Park behind the B&B bar
Thinking I'll go crazy if I don't get out
I'm on a dead end street in a ten block town
Every day I say I'm gone and then
Every night I'm in a joints again
Down the road.
Good times down the road
Sneaking off in my daddy's car
Thinking I'll go crazy if I don't get out
=================================
Feeling trapped by conscience and longing to be free of conventional rules.
Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash "440 Horses"
440 horses drive the wheels of this chrome and steel
Like a freight train through the night,
My foot is lead and my eyes blood red,
And my knuckles showing white,
My hair is slicked with oil,and my breathe flows gasoline.
Well I'm a smoking' flamin' death machineAnd the lonely lights of another lonely town
Lonely highway I keep rushing downAnd there's a 100 miles till I sleep tonight
Well I've got to put the hammer down.
Lonely highway I keep rushing downAnd there's a 100 miles till I sleep tonight
=================================
I'm obsessing over the same thoughts over and over again. I long for relief, but I know it won't happen for awhile.
(...)
Continued here: http://drdriving.org/travel/songs.htm
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