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“Radar Love” – Golden Earring
(Words/music: Barry Hay and George Kooymans, available on Moontan, MCA 1973)

The words in “Radar Love” detail a weary driver trying to find motivation for completing his long and arduous trip to his love.  It could also be about the song “Radar Love” itself – the main character finds himself driving faster and faster with thoughts of his love, his wish for his trip to end, and the music pumped out of the radio.  Aside from the time-space ramifications, “Radar Love” could be the song this guy’s listening to as he’s speeding off into the sunset.  Long regarded as one of the great “driving songs” of the classic rock era, I’m sure that plenty of us have had that same moment in the car where “Radar Love” comes on and the accelerometer slowly climbs.  Aside from being a song about driving fast, “Radar Love” feels perfect for those long stretches of open highway where the car stereo is our only company.

Radar Love achieves this “turbo boost” (or, as the song suggests, the “voice in my head that drives my heel”) by the way it builds up to the chorus.  Even though the song maintains the same galloping tempo the entire song, it feels like it’s speeding up as the song builds up to the free-wheeling chorus.  The prominent bass line helps to create this effect and makes the song sound like it’s constantly trying to catch up with the steady drumming.  Every time the song adds a new layer – whether it’s the horn section or the brief bits of lead guitar in the verses, it feels like another car pulling along side us threatening to pass in front of us.  Just as the song feels like it’s racing to the chorus, we steadily (and in my case at least, subconsciously) push our foot down just a little bit more.  Even once the chorus ends and the song starts building again, we’re never given the cue to slow down; instead, we start accelerating again as it builds back up.  By the time the chorus hits, I’m ready to sing along, paying little attention to how fast I’m speeding by the other cars.  I’m just not entirely sure why the song’s called “Radar Love,” as the radar gun will be the exact thing that ruins this party.

More on Golden Earring: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm