“Tyres Through The Bend” emerges from my experience of Tailem Bend, a small town just over an hour from Adelaide on one of the main highways that travellers take to head to eastern Australia.
After chatting with my former 5MU colleague, Cugo, who was a police officer in the area many years ago, I learned why I had noticed that Tailem Bend was one of a string of towns on the Princes Highway that had a problem with motorists speeding through them in the 1970s and 1980s. The traffic division of South Australia Police would regularly deploy officers to set speed traps to try to curb this dangerous behaviour.
Having lived in country towns myself, I tried to capture three sides of this story.
Firstly, there are the motorists and truckies who get locked into the mindset of just wanting to get from Point A to Point B, paying little attention to the towns they travel through. The highway becomes a tunnel of urgency where every delay feels like an obstacle to overcome.
Secondly, I imagined a local copper, not one setting the speed traps, but an officer who would be responsible for any accidents in the area. Someone with an explicit duty of care for the town and its people, as well as an implicit duty that comes from getting to know and becoming part of the community. There’s something about that local connection that changes how you see your role.
And thirdly, there’s the perspective of townspeople who have genuine pride in their area and are puzzled, possibly angry or frustrated, by travellers who treat their hometown like nothing more than a fuel and toilet station, dismissed as “just another town” on the way to somewhere more important.
It’s not the full story, but it captures an impression of the dynamic at play. That tension between movement and place, between the urgent need to get somewhere and the quiet insistence that here, right here, actually matters to someone.
The song asks a simple question: what if you slowed down enough to see what you’re racing past?
Tyres Through The Bend
[Verse 1]
It’s a Saturday
It’s a holiday
It’s gonna be a long hot drive
You’re here with me
And I’m finally free
It’s the best day of my life
But there’s a lot of nothing
And the towns all look the same
I want this journey to be over
‘Cause it’s driving me insane
[Chorus]
You’re not gonna stop
And I can’t slow you down
But we have a cop
Who gives a damn about this town
So go ahead and speed
Spin your tyres through the Bend
And that last thoughtless deed
Will bring your freedom to an end
[Verse 2]
It’s a heavy load
There’s a lot of road
And I’m running out of time
It’s important freight
And they just can’t wait
For the shipment to arrive
But I’m 13 hours in
And you’re wondering where I’ve been
I’m in another 50 zone
In a town you’ve never seen
[Chorus]
You’re not gonna stop
And I can’t slow you down
But we have a cop
Who gives a damn about this town
So go ahead and speed
Spin your tyres through the Bend
And that last thoughtless deed
Will bring your freedom to an end
[Bridge]
Hey distracted drivers
(You gotta) Shift gears in your mind
You’re driving past Australia
One town at a time
You’re missing stuff that matters
And what matters is it’s mine
Slow down
You’ll be surprised by what you find
[Chorus]
You’re not gonna stop
And we can’t slow you down
But we have a cop
Who gives a damn about this town
So go ahead and speed
Spin your tyres through the Bend
And that last thoughtless deed
Will bring your freedom to an end