Ominous Ride - Running

from SpinTunes #16 Round 1 by Spintunes

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SpinTunes Challenge: What a Concept!: Write a song based on a scene from a book or movie.

(Spoiler Alert): This song is based on the final scene from the film "Five Easy Pieces," where Bobby Dupea (Jack Nicholson) is staring at himself in the mirror at a remote truck stop restroom, right before he spontaneously hitches a ride with a trucker, abandoning his girlfriend (Karen Black) and leaving literally everything behind.

As The Criterion Collection notes, "Dupea isn’t running from anything or to anything; he’s just running...He’s burdened with the overriding belief that there’s got to be something better than this, and he confuses a quest for freedom with an inability to commit."And Pauline Kael describes Nicholson's Dupea as a man "who feels he has to keep running because the only good is momentum.”

This song references Bobby's flawed character throughout the film - which I hope doesn't slip outside the boundaries of the challenge - but I argue that the context is essential to fully understand and appreciate the final scene.

The scene can be watched here:
youtu.be/vLAQiwEGGKs

lyrics

LYRICS:

I left the honest life behind me
I saw the noble road and turned and walked away
Now I’m lost and I don’t know what empathy remains
Feeling locked in a part far too permanent to play
Easier to hit the road
Easier to be alone
So much easier to shed my skin and throw that man away

And I don’t know where I’m going
And I don’t know where I’m supposed to be
And I don’t know where I’m running
What are the steps my feet are finding

In my head, I’m fighting
Hits the soul like lightning
Break away from my sins
And for the rest of my days I’m running

Another page is turned (to spite me)
Another bridge is burned (and I)
And I can’t find the words,
the honest words, the final words

Life is short, what’s the point in trying to forge my angel wings
Chances are it’s all for naught, and so I’ll slip away unseen
My reflection doesn't show me what to do or where to go
And as I hitch that ride, I say I’m fine, I say I’m fine/But I’m not fine.

And I don’t know where I’m going
And I don’t know where I’m supposed to be
And I don’t know where I’m running
What are the steps my feet are finding

In my head, I’m fighting
Hits the soul like lightning
Break away from my sins
And for the rest of my days I’m running

And I don’t know where I’m going
And I don’t know where I’m supposed to be
I don’t know where I’m running

credits

from SpinTunes #16 Round 1, released February 2, 2020

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Spintunes Union, South Carolina

Spintunes is a semi-annual songwriting contest. Every other week, the competitors receive a challenge and a week to meet it.

Each album on this site contains the responses to a single challenge.