Drivin' Blind

Album: Detroit Muscle (2022)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song is Ted Nugent's ode to clean living, where he warns, "Don't get caught drivin' blind."

    Nugent is a certified wild man, but he steers clear of drugs and alcohol. "I'm intoxicated by the music," he's said.
  • In a Songfacts interview with Ted Nugent, he told the story behind this song. "I live such a pure life," he said. "I come in from my every-morning hunting, fishing, trapping, mechanic, farming, ranching, dog training, butchering... no other guitar player has that regimen. Nobody! The original blues guy, Robert Johnson, may have. And Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters when they came from Mississippi to Chicago. My point being, when I come in, I immediately wash my hands, because even though I love the blood and guts and the dirt and grease and the oil, I need to save my Gibsons. Save my guitars from the dangerous abuse of earthly debris. I pick up a Gibson Birdland and play through an amp that I tweak on a daily basis for the most responsive spread of tonality and voicings, and 'Drivin' Blind' happens.

    I come in so pure and distant from the horrors of current global treachery that I am so cleansed. I'm so happy, the dogs are so tired, I'm so fresh, that 'Drivin' Blind,' it just burst forth."
  • The lyrics reference some songs that influenced Nugent.

    "I wrote the book on sexual healing" is a shout-out to Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing." Nugent is from Detroit and was surrounded by the Motown sound, which he drew on for soulfulness.

    "Stop flirting with disaster" calls on "Flirtin' With Disaster," a song from the Southern rock group Molly Hatchet. That song was produced by Tom Werman, who also worked with Nugent.
  • "Drivin' Blind" is a track from Nugent's Detroit Muscle album, released when he was 73 years old, but still "throttling relentlessly." Much of the album is a tribute to the music of Detroit.

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