Driving Wheel?

This topic has 11 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 16 March 2018 at 17:40 by Journeyman.

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16 March 2018 at 10:16 #346330
Neil Wyatt
Moderator
@neilwyatt
A silly question…

As fan of decent music such as Foghat's 'Driving Wheel' and Tom Rush's song of the same name, they often mention a 'driving' wheel. There's also a song I haven't heard by Robert Sykes called 'driving wheel'.

In UK parlance that's usually the powered wheels of a locomotive, but in American songs it's always referred to in the singular.

I know Foghat are an English band, but their songs have a strong American influence…

So can our American friends tell me – in the USA, is a 'driving wheel' a 'steering wheel' or is it one of the powered wheels?

Neil
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16 March 2018 at 10:16 #35142
Neil Wyatt
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@neilwyatt
16 March 2018 at 10:21 #346331
JasonB
Moderator
@jasonb
Seems there are a few more songs you need to listen to Neil
16 March 2018 at 10:30 #346333
FMES
Participant
@fmes
Neil,

I expect you have already looked at this : **LINK**

Regards

Lofty
16 March 2018 at 10:50 #346335
Gordon W
Participant
@gordonw
These are just songs, not technical works. I always assumed the words are bent to fit to fit the tune/ scansion.
16 March 2018 at 11:21 #346339
SillyOldDuffer
Moderator
@sillyoldduffer
Might well be an allusion to 'wheel' as in to flirt, a measure of sexual success. Like trains entering tunnels, fireworks and popping champagne bottles on screen, engines (especially steam engines) are a metaphor for intercourse.

Being a respectable electrical engineer with a literal mind my dad was oblivious to double meanings. He thought the lyrics of South of the border, down Mexico way were completely innocent. And that Melanie's 'Brand New-key" is a little girl singing about roller skates.

Look closely and you'll find that many – perhaps most – songs are actually about sex. Symbolism, metaphor and tropes aren't a new thing – there was an incident involving Eve, an Apple and the Serpent.

Wheelin' and dealin'

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 16/03/2018 11:24:26
16 March 2018 at 11:56 #346342
colin hawes
Participant
@colinhawes85982
Wheel of fortune ? Colin
16 March 2018 at 15:55 #346363
Neil Wyatt
Moderator
@neilwyatt
Hmm, still not an answer. Wikipedia's driving wheels are generally plural…

Dave – I'm sure Jelly Roll Morton was famed for his love of swiss rolls…. :-0

Neil
16 March 2018 at 16:42 #346373
SillyOldDuffer
Moderator
@sillyoldduffer
Having checked out the Foghat and Rush lyrics it's amusing to find they're about opposite ends of the rock and role lifestyle. Foghat's song celebrates a prolonged athletic success whilst poor Mr Rush bewails losing his bedroom mojo with 'My car broke down in Texas she stopped dead in her tracks'.

I'm starting to worry about the real meaning of 'God save the queen'…

Meanwhile it gets worse. Consider the US National Anthem:

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution!

Guess which fine Nation they're moaning about. Blatant propaganda.

Dave
16 March 2018 at 16:53 #346374
duncan webster 1
Participant
@duncanwebster1
Just a bit worse than ours:

Lord, grant that Marshal Wade,
May by thy mighty aid,
Victory bring.
May he sedition hush,
and like a torrent rush,
Rebellious Scots to crush,
God save the King.
16 March 2018 at 17:05 #346376
Geoff Theasby
Participant
@geofftheasby
Driving wheel is the steering wheel, as in the USB attachment for driving video games, as is the joystick for flight simulators. Alternatively, in the Junior Parker song, it is the provider of power, as it is in a motor cycle, or early go-karts, where only one wheel was powered.

And the sexual stuff, too.

Geoff
16 March 2018 at 17:40 #346378
Journeyman
Participant
@journeyman
A "Driving Wheel" is obviously one of these:-

John

Linl: Scale Model News

Edited By Journeyman on 16/03/2018 18:16:49
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