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Old Blue Truck

from Old Blue Truck by Charles de Lint

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about

Although I lived in a lot of different parts of the world in my youth, in my mind I grew up in rural Quebec, where we lived for most of the time. As kids, we were always out in the bush, hiking and exploring. One of the best things to find was one of those old abandoned vehicles that littered the forests in those days. That's how people got rid of their cars back then: drive them off the road into a field or the forest and just leave them there.

Even these days, up by our cottage, every time we go up the little lane that takes us in to our place, we pass a bunch of old rusting vehicles: a VW bug, a Ford sedan and the cab of an ancient Ford pickup. Oddly, they don't seem like eyesores so much as a bit of magic in the forest.

Driving the highway from Ottawa to our cottage, I kept noticing this old blue truck poking its front end out of a forest on the far side of a farmer's pasture. It's become one of the many landmarks that my eye goes to as we drive the highway. So that was in my mind as I wrote this song, the memory of finding an old vehicle and sliding in behind the wheel. That vehicle didn't move an inch but it could take you anywhere.

lyrics

refrain:
I'm sitting in the backyard, in my old blue truck
The floor's half-gone, and the doors get stuck
It's got no motor, it's got no wheels
But I like to remember, the way it'd feel
When my dad was alive, and he drove us into town
In his shiny new Ford, with the windows down
We were young and free, maybe happier then
When I sit in this truck it's like it all comes back again

Sherry says its time we got rid of that heap
It's just an eyesore we don't need to keep
There's snakes in the grass, weeds in the wells
There's birds making nests, it just looks like hell
There's mice in the seat springs and under the hood
Well, a truck like that it ain't much good
I said it don't move an inch, but it's logging miles
Yeah, it don't do much, but it makes me smile
refrain

I said remember before the kids were born
We'd sit in that truck just to watch the corn
The moon'd come floating up over the trees
There was no one in the world, just you and me
And you held me close till I thought I might cry
Just to see how the stars shone in your eyes
I was thinking when the kids're grown up and gone
We might do it again, just sit here and watch the dawn

Sherry says I guess it won't be a trial
We could clean it up some, maybe keep it awhile
Everybody's got some crazy old load
We'll just have a truck we can't put on the road
refrain

credits

from Old Blue Truck, released March 1, 2011

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about

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Charles de Lint Ottawa, Ontario

A full-time writer and musician, this author of more than eighty adult, young adult, and children’s books has won the World Fantasy, Aurora, Sunburst, and White Pine awards, among others. Modern Library's Top 100 Books of the 20th Century poll, voted on by readers, put eight of de Lint's books among the top 100. De Lint is also a poet, artist, songwriter, performer and folklorist. ... more

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