Helen Wheels Lyrics
Said farewell to my last hotel, it never was much kind of abode
Glasgow town never brought me down when I was heading out on the road
Carlisle city never looked so pretty, and the Kendal freeway's fast
Slow down driver, wanna stay alive, I wanna make this journey last
[Chorus]
Helen (Helen)
Hell on wheels
Ain't nobody else gonna know the way she feels
Helen (Helen)
Hell on wheels
And they're never gonna take her away
[Verse 2]
M6 south down Liverpool, where they play the west coast sound
Sailor Sam, he came from Birmingham, but he never will be found
Doin' fine when a London sign greets me like a long lost friend
Mister motor won't you check her out, she's gotta take me back again
[Chorus]
Helen (Helen)
Hell on wheels
Ain't nobody else gonna know the way she feels
Helen (Helen)
Hell on wheels
And they're never gonna take her away
Got no time for a rum and lime, I wanna get my right foot down
Shake some dust off of this old bus, I gotta get her out of town
Spend the day upon the motorway, where the carburetors blast
Slow down driver, wanna stay alive, I wanna make this journey last
[Chorus]
Helen (Helen)
Hell on wheels
Ain't nobody else gonna know the way she feels
Helen (Helen)
Hell on wheels
And they're never gonna take her away
[Outro]
Say bye-bye!
Bye-bye!
One, Two, Three, Four
About
“Helen Wheels” was the first single released two months ahead of Band on the Run, on October 23, 1973. It appears on the US version of the album, but it was absent from the UK version.
According to the Paul McCartney Project website, the song title comes from a nickname that Paul and Linda McCartney gave to her Land Rover—a pun for the common phrase, “Hell on wheels.”
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
In the 1976 biography, Paul Mccartney In His Own Words, Paul said:
Helen Wheels is our Land Rover. It’s a name we gave to our Land Rover, which is a trusted vehicle that gets us around Scotland. It takes us up to the Shetland Islands and down to London. The song starts off in Glasgow, and it goes past Carlisle, goes to Kendal, Liverpool, Birmingham and London. It’s the route coming down from our Scottish farm to London, so it’s really the story of the trip down. Little images along the way. Liverpool is on the West coast of England, so that is all that means.
