New York City in the 90s was a place of edge, creativity and danger. Arts districts thrived with hip-hop and punk scenes. Rent was relatively affordable in places like Chelsea and the Lower East Side. Nightlife was thriving and crime, while still high, was in a decline for the first time in decades. The song “Motorcycle Drive By” was written in the height of the 90s about a person who moved to New York City to make it on their own, but after a breakup with a career-driven woman, moved back home to the West Coast.
The phrase “if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere” was never more true than when Third Eye Blind lead singer, Stephen Jenkins wrote “Motorcycle Drive By,” encompassing his love-hate relationship with New York City following a breakup.
Jenkins wrote “Motorcycle Drive By” in Manhattan’s French Roast near Greenwich Village, according to an interview with Rolling Stone. The now opulent neighborhood was once an edgy hub for the arts and punk culture that inhabited the area during the 90s. Living in both NYC and the Bay Area had immense influence on Jenkins’ songwriting for Third Eye Blind’s first album, with topics of drug abuse, suicide and the punk cultures of the time.
The song is the penultimate track of the band’s self-titled album, released 1997. The album features some of the band’s most famous songs like “Semi-Charmed Life” and “Jumper.” Third Eye Blind‘s original members are Stephan Jenkins (vocals, guitar), Arion Salazar (bass), Brad Hargreaves (drums) and Kevin Cadogan (guitar).
“Motorcycle Drive By” begins with a rich acoustic guitar and bare vocals. The lyrics set the scene with “Summer time and the wind is blowing outside // In lower Chelsea and I don’t know // What I’m doing in this city.”
Jenkins’ soft start to the song builds with the narrative from the first verse the singer describes the realization he couldn’t be with the person he wanted. The music has an underwhelming level of power for the band’s normal high energy tracks on the album.
After electric guitar, bass and drums enter, the second verse picks up. The singer’s emotions begin to fill the song, his feelings towards the person he loves growing complex: “And there’s things I would like to do that you don’t believe in // I would like to build something // But you’ll never see it happen.”
The end of the second verse repeats the lyrics from the end of the first verse, but this time, the building emotion reaches a peak as Jenkins sings “I’ve never been so alive.” His melodic yell causes the electric guitar and drums to explode into the rock-punk sound Third Eye Blind is known for.
Now, with the song in full power, the lyrics release everything the speaker is feeling. With moving on from the person he loved, the speaker is also moving on from the city they lived in: New York City. “New York City’s evil // The surface is everything but I could never do that.”
In a city filled with memories of a past-self and a past-relationship, the speaker goes home to the west coast to forget about his past love.
Take a listen to “Motorcycle Drive By” below.
“Motorcycle Drive By” Lyrics
Summer time and the wind is blowing
Outside in lower Chelsea
And I don’t know what I’m doing in this city
The sun is always in my eyes
It crashes through the windows
And I’m sleeping on the couch
When I came to visit you
That’s when I knew
I could never have you
I knew that before you did
Still I’m the one who’s stupid
And there’s this burning
Like there’s always been
I’ve never been so alone
And I’ve never been so alive
Visions of you on a motorcycle drive by
The cigarette ash flies in your eyes
And you don’t mind
And you smile
And say the world it doesn’t fit with you
I don’t believe you
You’re so serene
Careening through the universe
Your axis on a tilt
You’re guiltless and free
I hope you take a piece of me with you
And there’s things I would like to do the
You don’t believe in
I would like to build something
But you’ll never see it happen
And there’s this burning
Like there’s always been
I’ve never been so alone
And I’ve, I’ve never been so alive
And there’s this burning
There was this burning
Where’s the soul, I want to know
New York City is evil
The surface is everything
But I could never do that
Someone would see through that
And this is our last time
We’ll be friends again
I’ll get over you, you’ll wonder
Who I am
And there’s this burning
Just like there’s always been
I’ve never been so alone, alone
And I, and I’ve, I’ve never been so alive, so alive
I go home to the coast
It starts to rain I paddle out
On the water
Alone
Taste the salt and taste the pain
I’m not thinking of you again
Summer dies and swells rise
The sun goes down in my eyes
See this rolling wave
Darkly coming to take me
Home
And I’ve never been so alone
And I’ve never been so alive
Comments are closed.