Driver 8

I have wanted to use the image of power line markers in a painting for many years… long enough that I’m not sure if my visual intertest in them is part of my draw to the song “Driver 8” by REM, or if the song is why the image is stamped in my head to begin with (“The power lines have floaters so the airplanes won’t get snagged”). 

When I first noticed markers as a kid and asked my mother what they were, we were driving in a rural area outside of Saratoga Springs, NY with fields on either side of the road.  It was summer, and with the windows down all we could hear was the hum of cicadas. I have associated power line markers with summer (and cicada humming) ever since 

The lyrics of “Driver 8” create a string of images connected by the story of an engineer driving a passenger train through these scenes on his long shift.  While tall summer grass is not specifically mentioned – it is more the feel of it that made me choose this to combine with the “floaters”.  The images in the song are all connected to summertime and reference farms, and fields, blue skies and heat.  There is even a harmonica note played over the line “A way to shield the hated heat” that to me evokes summertime cicadas.

Combining the powerline markers with the tall, dried-out summer grass for me captured the feeling of summertime  - both on a country drive as a kid watching the scenes roll by and also in the contemplative, almost mesmerizing and monotonous way “Driver 8” illustrates summertime scenes rolling by.