It would be too romantic to have used yesterday’s visit to see my father purely as an excuse to listen to Have to Drive on the way back, walking through the forgotten streets of our city’s outskirts, dampened by the drizzle and crushed by the heaviness of rain clouds.

Still, its last words – whispered commands which pull the rest of the song into focus – are such an exquisite lure that any reason will do. Indeed, “I’ll meet you in an hour, at the car” adds a third, almost unmentioned, dimension to a song which is already skewed by a lyrical pun (the use of “deer” instead of “dear”) and a choral break sung by the Via Interficere Choir of Nashville (another pun, latin lovers) targetting the encroachment of human civilisation on wildlife. To me, the song isn’t about that anyhow – it’s so much darker. I challenge you to gather up all the missing pieces and work out an alternative interpretation.

Musically, it’s a tremendous piece of work, building subtly from simple piano progressions. Strings and drums do most of the structural work, before Amanda’s voice almost overreaches itself and the entire song collapses in an emotional denouement.

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