Pending moderation
Hi! I have a question about a line in the first stanza of Camila's song "Never Be The Same" (link: http://lyricstranslate.com/en/camila-cabello-ill-never-be-same-lyrics.html):
What does this line mean? Is it an idiom because I couldn't find a proper translation of this expression?
"Let go on the wheel, it’s the bullet lane"
Thanks a lot for any info!
Hallo!
Bullet lane has to do with the speed: it's the 'passing lane' which faster cars use to pass other cars. Based on that, I suppose let's go on the wheel simply means let's go driving! So:
Let's go driving, we're in the fast lane.
Metaphorically speaking, it could mean: Let's do stuff (enjoy life?) since life is going fast (time flies).
(Although in dreams, driving would represent sexual tendencies, I reckon.)
I hear "Let go of the wheel," which makes me sense to me.
My bad...I hadn't listened to the song...however, I don't hear 'of' but 'on'. I think "Let go on the wheel, it’s the bullet lane" is correct, but not my reading of it. I do agree with [@petit élève]'s reading
"Let go on the wheel" sounds extremely odd to me, borderline incorrect, as a native speaker of English.
Just my two cents.
I also hear “of.” Let go on the wheel just sounds weird to me. I’ve also never heard anyone use the term bullet lane before.
Agreed. I haven't heard "bullet lane" either.
You have to note that just because it's odd, doesn't mean it's not the lyrics sung by her. The Google Play Music version also has 'on' not 'of':
https://play.google.com/music/preview/Taxteol4fclewy4w2tvsypsduje?lyrics=1
[@opulence] & [@tdwarms]:
American Idioms
bullet lane (n.), slang, citizen's band radio jargon:
The passing lane.
"Move over into the bullet lane, this eighteen wheeler is moving too slow".
I understand what "bullet lane" means, I've just not heard it before. Incidentally, I'm American and to my knowledge, @opulence is as well.
I realize that just because it's something that I've never heard a native English speaker say before, doesn't meant that she couldn't be singing that. It's just not what I hear or what makes sense to me.
[@tdwarms] I know you're native speakers. Don't be offended!
She is half Cuban and It's not uncommon for varieties of English to have different frequencies of words and expressions. Considering this, the interpretation of what she actually means must not be simply based on what sounds like common English to native speakers. In other words, we shouldn't revert her 'special' language back to normal just for it to make sense!
I'm not offended. I'm just not particularly convinced that she's saying "on" instead of "of." :)
He has a nice voice. :) Are his unique turns of phrases intentional?
The translation is very interesting. It makes me want to ask questions. :) Good stuff.
Sorry I’m late on this lol, yes, I’m American and I’ve never heard bullet lane. Could be an east coast thing, though. I’m on the west coast and we don’t say that.
Lyrics tend to play with words all the time, so what you all hear might actually be what she says. She’s also from Cuba, so she’s probably not a native English speaker.
But yeah I know I’m late and you guys have moved on to something else, but just wanted to contribute.
You're good! No worries.
Check out this interview here. She sounds like a native speaker, or at least her accent is unremarkable to me.
Also, if you Google "let go on the wheel" (with quotation marks to narrow the search results), I get 7 results which all go back directly or indirectly to this song. That further suggests to me that "let go on" is a transcription error.
I'm in the Southwest and haven't heard "bullet lane," so it could be an East Coast thing. Who knows? :)
Thanks for your input.
No worries. I think we've all done it before. ;)
@tdwarms, She could be a native speaker. I don’t know too much about her, not really my ideal genre tbh. Someone mentioned that she’s from Cuba above me, and her artist page also says Cuba, so that’s why I thought that. If she is a native speaker, my bad!
Yeah, I’m in the PNW and it’s definitely not something I’ve ever heard in my life time. I’ve been to the south west and haven’t heard it there either, but I’ve never been to the east coast so it could be an east coast thing or even a Midwest thing, who knows?
I hear let go of, imo “let go on” is a bit of a stretch, but I’ve heard a lot weirder things in songs before so I mean, it’s possible.
I don't really know much about her either, and her music isn't really my go to either. ;) I think she was born in Cuba but spent most of her life in the States?
Anyways, I'm with you on both counts. :) I promise I'm not trying to come across as unyielding or anything! I just legitimately don't hear "let go on" is all. I'm not trying to alienate everyone. :)
Interestingly enough, I googled bullet lane, and not only did I find that it’s mainly used by truck drivers and the CB radio community, but I found lyrics from this song. All of these lyrics say “let go on.” And I find that really interesting that every account says that, but that’s not what I hear either.
Yeah, like I said, not my ideal genre either. :) but I like helping with English questions :)
I wonder what the CB radio/truck driver connection could be?
As for all the lyrics reading "let go on," my guess is that they were originally uploaded with the transcription error and have since been copy-pasted with it. I've seen it happen for a number of other songs as well.
For real. *lol*
I have no idea, it probably doesn’t have a connection. I just couldn’t find anything about it being a regional term (I wanted to see if it was used on the east coast, haha)
True, I’ve seen that happen a lot, as well.
Maybe a lot of truck drivers are from the East Coast? :)
:D Maybe.
No harm done at all. I learned something new today (and it’s only 1am!), and it’s been an interesting discussion. I love this community we have on this site :)
I wonder which finger they said it was... :D
Hi to all of you! And thanks!
In fact, I didn't expect this phrase to be that complicated, so I'm kinda relieved that it doesn't seem to be a problem of my English skills, because also English native speakers have difficulties with it. (That's no offense!)
Camila isn't exactly the genre of music I usually listen to - I just wanted to translate it. When I worked on the translation (German), the song had other lyrics, but after they had been corrected, this line really made me mad! :/
As @tdwarms mentioned in comment #22, surching "let go on the wheel" on Google ended up in results referring to this song…
I actually hear on, but I'm no native English speaker, so I was pretty confused, which was the main problem. With of, I could easily translate the expression into proper German. Now, my current translation doesn't make much sense…
Well, anyway, thanks for your help! This community is great!!! *thumbs_up*
Regards!
It seems that rather than answering or attempting to answer the original question, the conversation turned into a debate as to what is the correct lyrics. :)
Assuming that "Let go on the wheel, it’s the bullet lane" is correct and taking the rest of stanza in consideration it could be stated that she took her hands off of the steering wheel while she was driving in the fast lane, that is, she is no longer in control of her actions or life and she's on a roller coaster ride.
I imagine the reason the conversation turned into a discussion of the correct lyrics is that it's difficult to explain meaning of lyrics that don't seem correct. :)
Assuming that "Let go of the wheel, it's the bullet lane" are what the lyrics are meant to say, I would say it's meant figuratively: there's no actual driving happening here. It's as though she's saying, "Just relax and quit struggling against the feeling, let yourself lose control." Not unlike what MichaelNa suggested.
"Let go on the wheel" sounds like she's saying to drop something onto the steering wheel, or maybe like "go crazy on the wheel?"
I did not mean to say that she's actually driving but rather make the actual words used relate to the previous lines. i.e. her brain is not right, she has his drug in her blood, euphoric and in pain, no longer in control of herself and on a roller coaster ride etc.