Music Moment – Red Barchetta by Rush

I’m partial to songs that tell stories. I’ve written about a few in the past, like Bob Dylan’s “Tangled Up In Blue”. For me, it’s the melding of poetry and music that captures my imagination and makes me fall in love with the song. That’s why I adore “Red Barchetta” by Rush. It’s actually a song that tells a story that was inspired by an actual short story. 

The history behind the song is that Rush drummer and lyricist, the late Neal Peart, was reading Road & Track magazine and discovered a short story titled “A Nice Morning Drive”, by Richard Foster. The story made an impression on Peart and he eventually penned the lyrics that were inspired by Foster’s original idea. 

Oddly, there is no such car called a Barchetta. The name is actually an Italian word that means “little boat”. In the auto world, it typically refers to a small, two-seater with no roof. In my imagination, I’ve always pictured a red MG when I hear the song.

While the music for the song is incredible – three musicians at their musical peak – the lyrics take center stage for me. Peart describes a future where cars are outlawed. The unnamed protagonist of the story steals away every Sunday to his uncle’s farm far outside the city, where the old man had maintained a forbidden vehicle. Our hero takes the car out for a weekly spin but encounters the authorities and a pursuit ensues along the winding rural roads. 

I love to listen to this song when I’m driving on two-lane country roads on sunny days, the windows down, the music turned up, feeling the wind in my hair, shifting and drifting.

I’ve linked to the official visualizer video from the band and posted the lyrics beneath. If you aren’t familiar with the song, please give it a listen and let me know what you think.