Ride

Prologue

¨I was in the winter of my life, and the men I met along the road were my only summer. At night I fell asleep with visions of me, dancing and laughing and crying with these men. Three years down the line of being on an endless world tour, and my memories of them were the only thing that sustained me, and my only real happy times. I was a singer - not a very popular one. I once had dreams of becoming a beautiful poet, but upon an unfortunate series of events saw those dreams dashed and divided like a million stars in the night sky that I wished on over and over again, sparkling and broken. But I didn't really mind because I knew that it takes getting everything you've ever wanted, and then losing it to know what true freedom is. When the people I used to know found out about what I had been doing, how I'd been living, they asked me why - but there's no use talking to people who have a home. They have no idea what it's like to seek safety in other people - for home to be wherever you lay your head. I was always an unusual girl. My mother told me I had a chameleon soul, no moral compass pointing due north, no fixed personality; just an inner indecisiveness that was as wide and unwavering as the ocean. And if I said I didn't plan for it to turn out this way, I'd be lying. Because I was born to be the other woman. Who belonged to no one, who belonged to everyone. Who had nothing, who wanted everything. With a fire for every experience and an obsession for freedom that terrified me to the point that I couldn't even talk about it, and pushed me to a nomadic point of madness that both dazzled and dizzied me.

I've been out on that open road

You can be my full time daddy,

White and gold.

Singing blues has been getting old,

You can be my full time baby,

Hot or cold.

Don't break me down

I've been travelin' too long,

I've been trying too hard,

With one pretty song.

I hear the birds on the summer breeze,

I drive fast, I am alone in midnight

Been tryin' hard not to get into trouble,

But I, I've got a war in my mind

So, I just ride, just ride,

I just ride, just ride.

Dying young and I'm playing hard

That's the way my father made his life an art

Drink all day and we talk 'til dark

That's the way the road dogs do it - ride 'til dark.

Don't leave me now

Don't say goodbye

Don't turn me around

Leave me high and dry.

I hear the birds on the summer breeze,

I drive fast, I am alone in midnight

Been tryin' hard not to get into trouble,

But I, I've got a war in my mind

I just ride, just ride,

I just ride, just ride.

I'm tired of feeling like I'm fucking crazy

I'm tired of driving 'til I see stars in my eyes

it's all I've got to keep myself sane, baby

So, I just ride, just ride.

I hear the birds on the summer breeze,

I drive fast, I am alone in midnight

Been tryin' hard not to get into trouble,

But I, I've got a war on my mind

I just ride, just ride,

I just ride, I just ride.

Every night I used to pray that I would find my people, and finally I did on the open road. We had nothing to lose, nothing to gain, nothing we desired anymore, except to make our lives into a work of art. Live fast, die young, be wild, and have fun. I believe in the country America used to be. I believe in the person I want to become. I believe in the freedom of the open road. And my motto is the same as ever: ¨I believe in the kindness of strangers. And when I'm at war with myself I ride, I just ride.¨ Who are you? Are you in touch with all of your darkest fantasies? Have you created a life for yourself where you can experience them? I have. I am fucking crazy.

But I am Free...¨