A relentless, driving swamp-blues onslaught that doesn't just tell a story, it replicates a panic attack. Drawn from a teenage memory of being caught in the opening seconds of a city riot, the song captures the terrifying physics of a stampede: the tremble in the pavement, the wall of humanity, the brutal efficiency of state violence. It's a firsthand report from the edge of chaos, a testimony to the instinct that screams when to lock the door, and a haunting witness to what happens when fear becomes a force of nature.
Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Sun was high on the city street
Just a boy of fifteen, lookin' for a bite to eat
Felt the road start tremblin' beneath my shoes
Got that feelin' that I was about to lose
Looked down the road, saw a terrible sight
Six lanes of people, runnin' in the light
A wall of fear, comin' straight for me and my sis
A human hurricane, I knew we couldn't miss
[Chorus]
Oh, Six Lanes of Runaway Fear!
The sound of a thousand souls, too terrified to hear!
You don't think of nothin', you just gotta go!
It's a river of panic with a deadly flow!
Six Lanes of Runaway Fear!
[Verse 2]
I dragged my sister through the nearest door
Yelled "They're riotin'!" and I yelled it more
The shopkeeper listened, he started to slide it shut
But one fool thought he knew better, and opened the damn thing but...
The human dam burst, bodies packed in the frame
I saw a man give up, and forget his own name
He just went limp, a log in the flood
Spillin' over the top, covered in mud and blood
[Chorus]
Oh, Six Lanes of Runaway Fear!
The sound of a thousand souls, too terrified to hear!
You don't think of nothin', you just gotta go!
It's a river of panic with a deadly flow!
Six Lanes of Runaway Fear!
[Bridge]
Then came the law, in two cold waves
First to beat the people, second to be their graves
Dragged 'em to a truck with a metal bed
Saw the blood run out from a groove so red
That ain't justice, that's a butcher's shop
Makes a young boy's innocent heart just stop...
[Final Chorus]
Yeah! Six Lanes of Runaway Fear! (Runaway Fear!)
The sound of a thousand souls, too terrified to hear! (Couldn't hear!)
You don't think of nothin', you just gotta go! (You just go!)
It's a river of panic! And nobody's gonna ever know!
Six Lanes of Runaway Fear!
