Wide Open Space

Credits: 
Lyrics and Music by Sammy Hagar
 
There’s a message on a mountaintop
A clear vision in that last drop
There’s a red light on a black and white
Feel it coming yet it’s nowhere in sight
I got to get out of this city move out to the country
I need me some of that wide open space
 
Start a family watch the kids run around
Work the land like our fathers once done
I’m getting ready for the big flood
Weatherman says it sure enough gonna rain
The roof needs some patching up, the barn needs some cleaning, fence needs mending, the
plow need some spinning
And I need me some wide open space
 
Wide open space
Wide open space
Wide open space
Wide open space
 
I’ve been dreaming for a long time, working at it overtime, saving every last dime, Dreaming.
Looking for the right one, that’s in it for the long run, hoping she’s the right one, Dreaming.
 
Wide open space
Wide open space
Wide open space
Wide open space

 2  Redhead Comments

daveminsd's picture

Hopefully others are thinking this too. I think "Wide Open Space" is quite an amazing song.... the best on the new album in a field of great tunes. It's kinda different from the others, though, isn't it. Like it was written in a different time or frame of mind. Saying all of that and more about how I love it, it occurs to me that I have no idea what the first 4 lines in the song are about. lol Here they are:

There’s a message on a mountaintop
A clear vision in that last drop
There’s a red light on a black and white
Feel it coming yet it’s nowhere in sight

Sammy -- can you please let us/me know what on earth these lines mean? I've had a look around the google gods but they have nothing for me except an old photography method of using red with black and white imaging. And then, of course, there's the RED Rocker aspect. But it doesn't explain all of it. I know this album has plenty of deep undertones and this is one of them. Please enlighten me.
Dave

daveminsd's picture

Ok, I believe I've cracked the code. lol.... ok it's not really a code per se.. But hey, this is Sammy, and the Reverend has spoken!

After more reflection and trying to reach Sammy's level, I now believe that I know what the first 4 lines mean. This very Country-fied anthem is bound for stardom and like I've already pointed out, it seems like it was written in a different place and time:

Lines 1&2: The "message on the mountaintop" and the "clear vision in that last drop" are both linked to the second octet's reference of rain. Clearly, it rains more in Sammy's world of "no confusion". His vision of "the simpler life" and simplicity. A mountaintop message is also a God reference. I'm not at all religious (except when it comes to Sammy) but there are plenty of undertones on this album that seek to get the listener and the writer closer to their God....and an awakened life.

And "there's a red light on a black and white" is a reference to a cop car or ambulance. The red light refers to the siren being on "somewhere" but there is so much Wide Open Space that one can't see, or properly hear. The siren is far off - so therefore it can't affect the listener's space negatively. "It's nowhere in sight". This is Sammy's vision of "life's problems still go on however if you live in the Wide Open Spaces, the impact on you is limited. It's a bonus that you get.