Limousine (MS Rebridge)
"Limousine" is a song from Brand New's 2006 album The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me. The song is AbOUT the death of 7-year old Katie Flynn. Hours before her death, Katie was the flower girl at her aunt's wedding, spreading petals down the aisle. As they left the wedding, they all got into a limousine and headed home. Martin Heidgen, 25, had had at least 14 drinks that night and his blood alcohol content (0.28) was more than three times the legal limit in New York (0.08). He drove more than two miles north in the southbound lane containing the Flynn family. Both the driver of the limousine, Stanley Rabinowitz, and Katie were killed instantly. Katie was decapitated and her mother held her head as rescue workers helped the rest of the family out of the vehicle.
The lyrics in this song draw many parallels to this tragedy. The first verse is seemingly from the mother's perspective, telling Katie to spread the petals and mentioning that she had one more night to be her mother. The second verse has been discussed intensively on the Brand New message boards. Theories range from the second verse being narrated from the point of view of Heidgen to the narrator being Lacey himself, reflecting the loss of a loved one from the story onto his personal life. During the final part of the song, Lacey repeats the phrase "I love you so much" or variations thereof, with a number count climaxing on seven, and then repeated. This seems to correspond to and emphasize the age of Katie Flynn at her death.
Martin Heidgen, the drunk driver received 18 years (rather than the 25 years to life sought by the victims' families) for the deaths of Katie Flynn and Stanley Rabinowitz. Heidgen was convicted of two counts of second-degree [...], three counts of first-degree assault and driving while intoxicated. The jury found him not guilty of reckless endangerment for jeopardizing the people whom he passed going the wrong way before hitting the limo.