There's a lot more to this song than some guy singing about a car he loves. Hiatt is a world-class songwriter and nothing happens in his songs by chance. His very first verse here is ominous for a reason; he's talking about an Indian burial ground underneath a cattle herd. Why? Because to American Indians, the word Thunderbird (and the religious and ceremonial concept and impact surrounding it) has deep spiritual and mythological meaning- which is completely lost on Henry Ford, who's marketing team were simply looking for a sexy name to sell automobiles. To me, Hiatt's great song here is all about modern gluttony, self satisfaction, shallowness, misplaced values, and even bigotry. If you look at it from this angle, you'll see that the lyric is thick with heavy sarcasm but is so cleverly subtle at the same time, and all wrapped up in a cute innocent melody. Love this song and John Hiatt- just one of MANY great songs and performances from him...
Great analysis, Holden. To back you up, theres this: "From the old Volkswagen, back to the Model T/ a lot of men have died so that you can ride with me/ in my Thunderbird.....". Volkswagen was Hitler's idea of a car for the people, and and Henry Ford was a Hitler sympathizer. I've seen Hiatt play live many times over the years, and at one show that took place around the time of the first Gulf War, Hiatt was ad-libbing and free-associating in the middle of "Slow Turning" and asked the question "how many young men gotta die so that I can put a quart of oil in my '73 Buick LeSabre?...."
@@HoldenForrestSongs , in "Fly Back Home" , Hiatt sings about environmental destruction from the cab of a monster truck: " I saw a red tail hawk eating roadkill/ I said, 'man, what happened to your dignity?'/ He said 'subdivisions have taken our home, there's no more prey to eat'/ I said 'but where we gonna live?'/ he said 'anywhere you want to I guess/all you creatures walking upright around here, well you've really made a message "...... later in the song: " I saw a rattlesnake up on the road, I ran him over and over until he died/then his ghost rose up and wrapped around this fear I held inside....."
Mr. Hiatt is a national treasure!
This is possibly my favorite song he has ever done, and he has done A TON of 5 star songs.
John Hiatt has 'SOUL" ... proud to be a fan ...
I love John singing these beautiful little car-songs :)
simply beautiful.
There's a lot more to this song than some guy singing about a car he loves. Hiatt is a world-class songwriter and nothing happens in his songs by chance. His very first verse here is ominous for a reason; he's talking about an Indian burial ground underneath a cattle herd. Why? Because to American Indians, the word Thunderbird (and the religious and ceremonial concept and impact surrounding it) has deep spiritual and mythological meaning- which is completely lost on Henry Ford, who's marketing team were simply looking for a sexy name to sell automobiles. To me, Hiatt's great song here is all about modern gluttony, self satisfaction, shallowness, misplaced values, and even bigotry. If you look at it from this angle, you'll see that the lyric is thick with heavy sarcasm but is so cleverly subtle at the same time, and all wrapped up in a cute innocent melody. Love this song and John Hiatt- just one of MANY great songs and performances from him...
Great analysis, Holden. To back you up, theres this: "From the old Volkswagen, back to the Model T/ a lot of men have died so that you can ride with me/ in my Thunderbird.....". Volkswagen was Hitler's idea of a car for the people, and and Henry Ford was a Hitler sympathizer. I've seen Hiatt play live many times over the years, and at one show that took place around the time of the first Gulf War, Hiatt was ad-libbing and free-associating in the middle of "Slow Turning" and asked the question "how many young men gotta die so that I can put a quart of oil in my '73 Buick LeSabre?...."
@@goodun2974 I just saw this comment and excellent contribution to this thread. Really good stuff, goodun.
@@HoldenForrestSongs , in "Fly Back Home" , Hiatt sings about environmental destruction from the cab of a monster truck: " I saw a red tail hawk eating roadkill/ I said, 'man, what happened to your dignity?'/ He said 'subdivisions have taken our home, there's no more prey to eat'/ I said 'but where we gonna live?'/ he said 'anywhere you want to I guess/all you creatures walking upright around here, well you've really made a message "...... later in the song: " I saw a rattlesnake up on the road, I ran him over and over until he died/then his ghost rose up and wrapped around this fear I held inside....."
wicked song ! love it !
"Willy Loman's saying something
I can't hear a word..."
Poetry.
Great, great song. From his best album.
That is JH best album.
John Hiatt is bad to the bone man
He can handle a guitar, too.
Jonhy winter
Why the hell did they cancel Breakfast with the arts? Needed more stupid staged "Reality" shows I guess.
@tgk03 Ditto