Music Review : Carrie Underwood "Jesus, Take The Wheel"

Carrie Underwood

Jesus, Take The Wheel

Album: Some Hearts

Year: 2005

             A young woman has a renewed faith in God after a near fatal car crash in the melodramatic “Jesus, Take The Wheel.”

         A bowing guitar opens the single, setting an atoning tone.  The holidays can’t be over soon enough. Then she can go back to Tennessee and be free of her extended family’s judgments. She can see her aunt’s look on her face. It’ll be the tsking sound she’ll hear as she tells her about her son’s daycare. Her cousins will smirk, glad that their lives aren’t like hers. She left Ohio to get away from their small minds. She puts her windshield wipers on a faster speed and then hears a ding as the gas tank icon lights up. She can make it to the next exit. Her little boy gurgles in his car seat, chewing on some plastic circles. If it weren’t for him and her parents, the year would’ve been a total washout. Maintaining the same speed as before, the car suddenly begins careening down the highway over black ice, hidden by the falling snow. She gripped the wheel, remembering the day she first held her son in the hospital after being born, her parents hugging her on her graduation from high school and kissing her then-husband on her wedding day. Oh my god, oh my god, she kept exclaiming, her knees and hands shaking. She took her hands off the wheel, realizing she needed a guide to help her though. (“She was driving last Friday on her way to Cincinnati/On a snow white Christmas Eve/Going home to see her Mama and her Daddy/With the baby in the

in the backseat/Fifty miles to go and she was/Running low on faith and gasoline/It'd been a long hard year/She had a lot on her mind/And she didn't pay attention/She was going way too fast/And before she knew it she was spinning/On a thin black sheet of glass/She saw both their lives flash before her eyes/She didn't even have time to cry/She was so scared/She threw her hands up in the air.”)

           In the chorus, she prays to God, reciting words she hadn’t spoken in many years. She tells Him that if she survives, she will go back to church and make better choices. (“Jesus take the wheel/Take it from my hands/Cause I can't do this on my own/I'm letting go/So give me one more chance/To save me from this road I'm on/Jesus take the wheel.”)

           Cars moved out of her way, keeping a safe distance, as she found the shoulder. A pile of snow from a previous storm

kept her going further and preventing her from hitting the concrete wall head-on. She takes deep breaths and checks on her little boy. He’s sitting in his car seat, a red circle in his lap and drool on his mouth, sleeping. His peacefulness brings tears to her eyes. If anything would’ve happened to him, it would’ve been her fault and she wouldn’t ever been able to forgive herself. She made the sign of the cross and apologized to Him for abandoning Him. She tells him she will live her life in a way that will make Him proud. (“It was still getting colder/When she made it to the shoulder/And the car came to a stop/She cried when she saw that baby/In the backseat sleeping like a rock/And for the first time in a long time/She bowed her head to pray/She said I'm sorry for the way/I've been living my life/I know I've got to change/So from now on tonight.”)

           The second chorus, edited some, is sung. (“Jesus take the wheel/Take it from my hands/Cause I can't do this on my own/I'm letting go/So give me one more chance/To save me from this road I'm on.”)

           In the final chorus, she asks for His help one more time to end the single. (“Jesus take the wheel/Oh, I'm letting go/So give me one more chance/Save me from this road I'm on/From this road I'm on/Jesus take the wheel/Oh, take it, take it from me/Oh, why, oh.”)

 
         Underwood’s repenting vocals, thick with guilt, reach high for the heavens, looking for God’s hands to hold. She’s feels fortunate to be alive. It was God that saved her in that moment. She reiterates that it could have been anyone out on that dangerous road, full of sin, in dire need of a higher power. Even you, casual listener, typing and bored,

counting down until 5 pm.

            There’s a holiday made-for-television movie in here somewhere starring Tori Spelling as the wayward adult child and Patrick Muldoon as the shallow ex-husband who takes off her God’s path and into a life filled with lots of sin, greed, and more sin.

        The moralizing “Jesus, Take The Wheel, despite its unintentional comedic elements, gives a respectful and positive view of God.