“Drive All Night” and “Thoughts and Prayers” by Matt Sahadi – Song Features

 

     The lyrics describe a longing to journey through the night and into the morning, while the instrumentation offers a glimpse into an era when songs often featured more than just a single skilled guitarist. In "Drive All Night," the guitars are skillfully layered, and while the vocals are compelling and passionate, the mixing doesn't prioritize one over the other. Instead, the vocals and guitar engage in a competition for the focus, where the listener emerges as the winner.
 
     The song from Matt Sahadi merges operatic flair into Rock sensibilities, similar to Jim Steinman, who is best known for his compositions for Meat Loaf. Like Steinman’s ballads, “Drive All Night” challenges the skills of the vocalist. Sahadi accepted the challenge and his voice did not disappoint.
 
      The combination of guitar and synth during the outro carries an engaging calmness. Its impact is heightened by its placement after a segment (starting at 3:41) in which the guitars are appropriately "bombastic."
 
     Matt Sahadi is an Indie Rocker from Ohio, but now resides in Nashville, Tennessee. Quoting a description with which we are in alignment:
   “From his influences with the synth-wave era of the 80s/90s, he brings a blend of synth-infused production with delayed and chorusy guitars and drums that drive the song, while giving way for the lyrics to shine. Matt additionally uses the support folk styles like acoustic guitar, harmonica, and tambourines, and a Brit-pop influence of guitar leads and fills. Matt’s songs are for the heartbreakers, the soul searchers, and the big dream chasers — those whose hearts burn with madness for something more out of life.”
 
     “Drive All Night” by Matt Sahadi

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Website: https://www.mattsahadi.com/

Lyrics of “Drive All Night” by Matt Sahadi
Katie, how you feeling?
I just wanna see you
I’ve been pacing through my house tonight
I’ve tried all of my best lines
Been waiting for the right time
Let’s hide behind my dashboard lights
 
My 302 is rumbling
Can you hear that engine humming
As I pull in your winding drive
So take my hand, slide over
You no longer need to wonder
What I’m feeling for you inside
 
Whoa oh
I can feel desire burning like a fire
Whoa oh
Somethin’ bout the street lights glowing in your eyes
Whoa oh
I don’t have a reason I just wanna see you tonight
You make me wanna drive all night
 
I’ll take you to the river
Watch the moonlight shimmer
From the ripples of a skipping stone
Chasing innocent salvation
While we’re tracing constellations
And talk about escaping home
 
We’ll crawl into my backseat
Laying breathless in the heat
Give in to what we’re aching for
I’ll leave that motor running
Vibrations in the summer
Gently rocking us back and forth
 
Whoa oh
I can feel desire burning like a fire
Whoa oh
Somethin’ bout the street lights glowing in your eyes
Whoa oh
I don’t have a reason, I just wanna see you tonight
You make me wanna drive all night
 
You make me wanna drive all night
 
You make me wanna drive all night
 
Til the sun
Come blinding in the rearview
Pull a cover over me and you
And love
Is enough
For laying down the rubber sound
To carry us from this town
 
Whoa oh
I can feel desire burning like a fire
Whoa oh
Somethin’ bout the street lights glowing in your eyes
Whoa oh
I don’t have a reason, I just wanna see you tonight
You make me wanna drive all night
 
You make me wanna drive all night
 
You make me wanna drive all
 
Ohhh oh
Ohhh oh oooooh

     Earlier this year, Sahadi released the protest song “Thought and Prayers.” The title is treated as a semantic satiation - a psychological phenomenon in which repetition causes a word or phrase to lose meaning for the listener. The three-word phrase is most often heard after a senseless shooting, but the song also references national drug problems, disrespect for the rights of women, and the “million different problems” that make is difficult to focus on one. The song concludes that we're just living in a world of “propagated sins,” which is the name of the four-track EP that includes “Thought and Prayers.”
 
     “Thoughts and Prayers” by Matt Sahadi