Maybe You're Just a Destination
“Zip City” barrels toward its ending like the narrator’s fuel-inefficient car.
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Drive-By Truckers have a lot of songs about driving, which makes sense for a band with such a Southern sense of place and so many hours spent on the road. They sing about driving across dry-county lines, driving on mean highways, driving around doing stupid shit as a teenager, and of course, driving toward a girl who’s “just a destination.”
Many of us wasted our youth in cars, killing time until we could get out of wherever we were.
“Zip City” is probably the Drive-By Truckers song I’ve listened to more than any other. Judging by the crowd response when DBT revs up the angsty opening chords, its fandom reaches wide. To borrow a phrase from one of my other favorite bands, The Hold Steady, “Zip City” is a singalong song — despite having no chorus, just verses, and a casual commitment to rhyme. The song just builds and barrels toward its destination like the narrator’s fuel-inefficient car.
For this week’s newsletter, on the occasion of my 47th birthday, I’m reflecting on why I love “Zip City,” and I asked some fellow DBT fans to share what the song evokes for them. Keep reading to join me on the journey.