Driver 8
"Driver 8" was the second single from R.E.M.'s third album, Fables of the Reconstruction. Released in September 1985, the song peaked at #22 on the U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. It was not released in Europe.
The song refers to the Southern Crescent, a passenger train operated by the Southern Railroad until 1979, and continues today (with fewer stops) as the Amtrak Crescent. The music video shows Chessie System trains running around Clifton Forge, Virginia.
Guitarist Peter Buck admitted in the liner notes for the band's 2003 compilation album In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003 that the verse chords for the song "Imitation of Life" were unintentionally taken from the verse chords of "Driver 8."
Cover versions
Podcasts:
Driver 8
by: R.E.M.The walls are built up, stone by stone
The fields divided one by one
And the train conductor says
"Take a break driver 8, driver 8 take a break
We've been on this shift too long"
And the train conductor says
"Take a break driver 8, driver 8 take a break
We can reach our destination, but we're still a ways away"
I saw a tree house on the outskirts of the farm
The power lines have floaters so the airplanes won't get snagged
Bells are ringing through the town again
Children look up, all they hear is sky-blue, bells ringing
And the train conductor says
"Take a break driver 8, driver 8 take a break
We can reach our destination, but we're still a ways away
But we're still a ways away"
Way to shield the hated heat
Way to put myself to sleep
Way to shield the hated heat
Way to put myself, my children to sleep
He piloted this song in a plane like that one
She is selling faith on the 'Go Tell Crusade'
Locomotive 8, southern crescent hear the bells ring again
Field to weed is lookin' thin
And the train conductor says
"Take a break driver 8, driver 8 take a break
We've been on this shift too long"
And the train conductor says
"Take a break driver 8, driver 8 take a break
We can reach our destination, but we're still a ways away