Baltimore Rider

Drove my scooter outta Philly right onto the ninety five,
Punching holes into the atmosphere it's good to be alive,
I kept thinking about Jenny, didn't sleep a wink last night,
Now I'm headin' down to Baltimore so I can put that right.

But then ten miles into Delaware it nearly came to grief,
Eighteen wheeler tippin' over on that Dover cloverleaf,
Lumber tumbling 'cross the highway makin SUV's collide,
Motorcycle man don't give a rip 'cause he knows how to slide.

Just across the Susquehanna saw the speed trap in the trees,
Killed the pace to spare the ticket 'cause you know I aim to please,
After that I saw the city limits breaking through the haze,
Though it never looks too pretty it's quite elegant some days.

Five-O pulls up on the off ramp handing out a shaking down,
Cop says "Don't you bring no trouble to my peaceful little town."
I say "Buddy, this is Baltimore that y'all are talkin 'bout!
And there ain't been too much peace here since we kicked the British out."

Gunned it down the length of Pratt Street on my way out to the Point,
Where my girl was waiting tables at some pricey hipster joint,
Jenny jumps up on the pillion I can feel her gripping strong,
She says "Get me out of this damn place, what took you so damn long?"

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Edited by bassMonkey on March 01 2022 14:13

[notes]
I thought probably not too much to add but questions/complaints have arisen...

This is obviously about a bike ride from Philadelphia (Philly) to Baltimore
for the purposes of meeting up with person you love. No better reason to go and
no better way of getting there that I can think of.

The main highway between the two is the I(nterstate) 95 or the
"ninety five" of the lyric. It's about an hour and half to two hours
depending on traffic, how hard you push it and if you stop to see the
sights or drink coffee.

Now, if you WERE turning off for Dover it would likely be at Christiana
which is more like 20 miles into Delaware and you still have a way to
go so "Dover Cloverleaf" is stretching it a bit. It's just fun to sing
especially after the "tipping over". Cloverleaf being a US term for the intersection
on the freeway based on what it looks like from above. "Slide" here is a
deliberate double meaning, the last thing you want is to be skidding with
items all over the road but "slide" also means get out of trouble.

The Susquehanna is a major river in the NE and the bridge a major landmark
on this trip as the river is very wide here as it joins Chesapeake bay. It's
also the world's second funnest river name to say/have in a song (after the
Limpopo obviously)

"Five-O" is naturally our friends in law enforcement with a "shakedown" being
a search which is why I thought it fun to say "handing out" in a line where
I was also using as many (often antonymic pairs of) prepositions as I could
(on/off up/down).

The British were thrown out of the 13 colonies in the revolutionary war 1775/83
of course but the 1812 war saw (as well as the burning of Washington DC) an
attempt to retake Baltimore which inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star
Spangled Banner whilst engaged on a prisoner exchange. Visit Fort McHenry if
you ever get there (after you've done the Aquarium and Poe's grave obviously)
But the city has issues - not all as bad as "the Wire" makes out.

Pratt Street is the main drag just north of the Inner Harbour so if you came
in from the I95 you might well go this route towards Fells Point "The Point"
which is full of trendy bars and eateries. "Gunning it" being using the
throttle more than absoultely necessary for the reasons of either speed or
noise - and in an urban setting will make people stare at you angrily.
Which is kind of the point.

Whether Jenny just wants "out" of the hipster paradise and back to "real"
Baltimore or out of the city altogther is a matter for the reader to decide.

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Edited by bassMonkey on March 03 2022 22:22