Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)

"Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)" deals with emotions that everyone knows at some point in their lives. The familiarity of the feelings causes most people to completely overlook some harsh details in the lyrics. The majority of "Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)" has Deftones frontman Chino Moreno repeating variations of "just far away and I don't care where." It resonates because everyone in the song has just wanted to escape from their environment, to escape the memories, to escape the self that they've built there. The young kid trying to break free of his or her hometown is a trope so common that no one even sees it as a trope anymore. That's why "Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)" was an anthem for so many fans, particularly those who were young and restless when the song dropped in 1997. The song's opening stanzas, however, tell a less universal, more specific, and possibly harsher story. Addressing an unnamed woman, Moreno starts the song singing "I dress you in her clothes, so drive me far away" and follows the line with "it feels good to know you're mine" with the flippant "now drive me far away." The lines paint the picture of a man who has found a cheap replacement for a lost love, a replacement that he's pretending to care about (or at least exaggerating his feelings for) so that she can drive him away. He's gone so far as to actually dress her in the other woman's clothes, which is beyond strange. It's not too nice a thing, really, but it's realistic to a certain segment of society, and Moreno has always been clear that he saw something poetic in the gritty, harsh aspects of human existence.

There's long been talk that "Never Let Me Down Again" by Depeche Mode (released in 1987 on their album Music for the Masses) inspired "Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)." No one in Deftones has tied them together explicitly, but the rumor isn't without merit. Both songs deal with a couple in an imbalanced relationship. In both songs, the narrator is relying on someone of the opposite sex to drive them out of town and never come back again. It's even possible that "Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)" is telling the same story but with the perspectives flipped. "Never Let Me Down Again" is told from the point of view of a woman with a man who has repeatedly let her down and who makes sure to remind her who "always wears the trousers" (meaning he's in control of the relationship and of her) while "Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)" comes from the perspective of that trouser-wearing man. Whether or not it's a direct retelling, there are definite similarities. Both Moreno and Deftones guitarist Stephen Carpenter also have cited Depeche Mode as a favorite band and inspiration (Carpenter supposedly played Depeche Mode's ninth studio album, Ultra, repeatedly throughout recording Around the Fur). Moreno has also initiated live performances of the song by repeating lines from the Depeche Mode song (though this bit of evidence is somewhat flimsy as he's used lines from other songs, as well, such as PJ Harvey's "Teclo" from her third studio album, To Bring You My Love). There's also the possibility that the influence was unconscious and Moreno himself was inspired by "Never Let Me Down Again" without realizing it, which is something that happens often in the music world. Whatever the case, Deftones has never outright validated this rumor, but there is evidence to support it.

"Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)" was the second single released off Deftones' second studio album, Around the Fur. It followed "My Own Summer (Shove It)," making Around the Fur potentially the only album in history to have two singles with parenthetical titles. It was the first Deftones single to crack US charts, hitting #29 on the Mainstream Rock chart. It also hit #50 on the UK Singles Chart - "My Own Summer (Shove It)" broke into the UK charts first.