When I was writing “Dangerous Space,” I listened to songs I thought Mars and the band would like, and — especially — songs that Duncan Black might write and sing.
Here’s one: Audioslave, “I Am the Highway.”
It’s a song about relationship: for me, it’s the relationship between who I am in the everyday world, and who I am when I write.
I love my days and nights. They are sometimes tedious, sometimes very hard, often joyful. Nicola is here. People read my stories, and sometimes the stories come to life inside them. A bad day in my life is a bad day, but it’s my life and I love living it.
But here I am limited. Here sometimes I am so much less than I am. I don’t think I’m unusual that way, but that doesn’t really help (grin). I don’t like being less brave, less clear, less ready to throw my head back or throw my arms around someone, less generous, less passionately engaged… I love Nicola and my family and friends, I love this beautiful world so much, but I am not always happy about being tied to reality.
When I write, I am everything. And for those moments it is real, even if I cannot bring it with me into the real world.
I am not your rolling wheels
I am the highway
I am not your carpet ride
I am the sky
I am not your blowing wind
I am the lightning
I am not your autumn moon
I am the night
I love being everything.