Red Barchetta

The song describes a dystopian future in which modern sports cars are prohibited by "the Motor Law." The narrator's uncle has kept one of these illicit vehicles (the red Barchetta) in pristine condition for some "fifty-odd years" and keeps it hidden on his farm. During one of his weekly drives, the narrator encounters two "alloy air cars." The Barchetta and the much larger aircars race down the road until the narrator eludes them by driving across a one-lane bridge that is too narrow for the "giants." The song ends with the narrator returning to the farm, "to dream with [his] uncle at the fireside."

The song was inspired by the futuristic short story "A Nice Morning Drive", written by Richard Foster and published in the November, 1973 issue of the magazine Road and Track. The story describes a similar future in which increasingly-stringent safety regulations have forced cars to evolve into massive "Modern Safety Vehicles" (MSVs), capable of withstanding a 50-mile-per-hour impact without injury to the driver. Consequently, drivers of MSVs have become less safety-conscious and more aggressive, and "bouncing" (intentionally ramming) the older, smaller cars is a common sport among some.

Rush lyricist Neil Peart made several attempts to contact Foster while working on the album, but Road and Track did not have an up-to-date address, and Rush were forced to settle for a brief "Inspired by" note in the lyric sheet mentioning the story. In July of 2007, Foster and Peart finally made contact with one another; Foster later posted an online account of their journey by motorcycle through the backwoods of West Virginia between stops on Rush's Snakes and Arrows tour.

In the original album version, Geddy Lee mispronounces "Barchetta" -- the correct pronunciation sounds like "Barketta" but Lee pronounces the "ch" like that in "cheese", not the proper Italian pronunciation.