Driving Through Mythical America

Driving Through Mythical America Lyric by Clive James, music by Pete Atkin
Four students in the usual light of day Set out to speak their minds about the war Unaware that Eddie Prue was on the way Things had to snap before they knew the score They were driving through mythical America A Rooney-Garland show was in the barn Fields was at the Pussycat Cafe No-one had even heard of Herman Kahn And Jersey Joe was eager for the fray Four students had to take it in their stride And couldn't feel the road beneath the wheels Of the car they didn't know they rode inside Across the set and through the cardboard hills They were driving through mythical America They sold their Studebaker Golden Hawk Bought a Nash Ambassador Saloon Bogart said "Even the dead can talk" And suddenly the coats were all raccoon Four students never knew that this was it There isn't much a target needs to know Already Babyface had made the hit And Rosebud was upended in the snow They were driving through mythical America Gatsby floated broken in the pool The Kansas City Seven found a groove Barrymore and Lombard played the fool And Cheetah slowly taught John Wayne to move Four students watched the soldiers load and aim And never tumbled they were on the spot Moose Molloy pulled ten years on a frame The dough was phoney and the car was hot They were driving through mythical America Henry Ford paid seven bucks a day Rockwell did the covers on the Post FDR set up the TVA And the stars rode silver trains from coast to coast Four students blinked at ordinary skies But the sunlight came from thousands of motels A highway through the night was in their eyes And waiting at the roadblock, Orson Welles They were driving through mythical America Four students never guessed that they were through Their history had them covered like a gun It hit them like a bolt out of the blue Too quick to grasp and far too late to run They crashed and died together in the sun They were driving through mythical America