Riding Solo — Hinds Lyrics

Song Facts:

• Genre: Soundtrack


• Featured on: "Invincible (TV Series)" soundtrack


• Lyricist: Hinds

Annotations and Meaning:

Hinds' "Riding Solo" is from the album "Invincible (TV Series)." The song is purely that, an embodiment of the ideals of loneliness, reflection, and a search within that environs for something along the lines of concrete purpose. Part power imagery and emotional truth, it captures what the idea would be like to set off on any of life's voyages alone—what a strange mix of freedom and risk that would be.
The line "I'm out of conversation / I'm on my private jet-lag" sets the piece into a course of quite private reflection. This metaphor of disconnection and tiredness—being "out of conversation" and "away on my 'private jet-lag'"—points at the disconnection with the whole outside world that goes on normally with their stuff, a common thought upon getting to this state. The concept of "private jet-lag" encloses within it the idea of the internal disorientation that is experienced at those times of intense personal reflection or following on from major changes experienced in one's life.
The song goes on to trace this inner landscape of one who feels, not only at odds with others but alienated from home and self. "'All rooms feel kind of empty / If you're not on the inside' points to the kind of emptiness that comes from inside when there aren't any meaningful relations, really underlining just how loneliness can make a space feel huge and empty.

It catches a very sentimental time of realization when he says, "I had a realization / You're my favorite space and time." What I mean by that is that he or she desperately longs for some person or time that would represent some kind of happiness or belonging, hence sanctuaries of memory and desire.

The chorus, "Yeah, I've been ridin' solo, ridin' solo / Don't feel right, nah-nah / Make it go away," is an almost unfiltered acknowledgment of all the things full of negatives that came along with the journey of being alone. It is a call to be relieved from the pain of being alone, desiring solace or escape from the hurt of emptiness.

The song then goes on to a narrative of an encounter with a stranger who notices the sadness in his eyes, a sadness he whimsically connected to being "made of rainbows." This contrast of sorrow with colorful imagery seems to reflect a sensitive person's complicated mix of emotions, even on matters dealing with loneliness.

"Riding Solo" switches up languages through the bridge that underscore the search for warmth and connection, pointing to the universality of the experience regardless of language or culture. The admission of things played wrongly and an acceptance that the admission plays a part in time wasted searching for someone's warmth brings in the themes of regret and longing quite clearly into the song.