Meaning of “June’s Stolen Car” by The Paper Kites
In writing June’s Stolen Car, Sam Bentley set out to imitate, in his own words, “the folk music of the 60s and 70s”, the type of which not only have “beautiful melodies” but also an effective “storytelling element”.
So what listeners are met with is a distinct narrative, one that starts off being painfully poetic but along the way becomes more straightforward in presentation.
Sam also described the wording of this song as being “about a girl who steals a car and takes it on a joyride across the country”, and in the process of relaying this tale he and The Paper Kites wanted to drop a track that they could use to “slam out a little”.
When you put those two ideas together, what we get is actually a Bonnie and Clyde type of narrative.
June is traveling cross country alright, along with her boyfriend, but along the way they get into serious trouble with the law. That’s probably due to the fact that the car she’s driving, as revealed by the title, is indeed stolen.
And instead of given up when confronted by the police, as implied in the second verse, she rather decides to go on the run. So the story concludes along the lines of June and her boo proving to be true thrill-seeking outlaws, fearlessly evading po-po to point where they seemingly die as a result.
“Ooh, fire in the streets tonight
Ooh, fire in the streets tonight, yeah”
June’s Stolen Car was released on 25 August 2023, a week in advance of the album it came to be featured on, which is The Paper Kites’ At the Roadhouse.
This song was written exclusively by Sam Bentley, who is the frontman of The Paper Kites. And he also had a hand in producing it, getting that particular job done with Matt Redlich.
The issuance of this track was made possible with the backing of Sony Music Australia and Wonderlick Entertainment.
