"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
Calmly, like a razor,
"I got us on the door,"
Or "I got a tape of 'Clerks'
Someone left the night before."
So I come over later,
You're sitting in that chair
Smoking on your cigarette
Fingering you hair
So I get drunk and stoned,
Every time you come around.
Twenty-nine and aimless
You bartend down on fourth
Your parents pay insurance
And the Parson's Audit course
Over-schooled and uninspired
Tust fund up your nose
All that wasted talent but, uh
Ain't that how it always goes?
So I get drunk and stoned,
Every time you come around.
Yeah, yeah yeah
So long Allison Foley
So long, bye-bye
(Come up higher, take a step higher)
Sometimes you understand
The reasons how you went astray
But least of all the answer,
That it hurts to watch you waste away.
So I get drunk and stoned,
Every time you come around.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So long, Allison Foley
So long, bye-bye
"I got us on the door,"
Or "I got a tape of 'Clerks'
Someone left the night before."
So I come over later,
You're sitting in that chair
Smoking on your cigarette
Fingering you hair
So I get drunk and stoned,
Every time you come around.
Twenty-nine and aimless
You bartend down on fourth
Your parents pay insurance
And the Parson's Audit course
Over-schooled and uninspired
Tust fund up your nose
All that wasted talent but, uh
Ain't that how it always goes?
So I get drunk and stoned,
Every time you come around.
Yeah, yeah yeah
So long Allison Foley
So long, bye-bye
(Come up higher, take a step higher)
Sometimes you understand
The reasons how you went astray
But least of all the answer,
That it hurts to watch you waste away.
So I get drunk and stoned,
Every time you come around.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So long, Allison Foley
So long, bye-bye
Lyrics submitted by oofus
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i was at the concert that they filmed their DVD. i also spent this past weekend with some friends in New Orleans, and they made me think of this song. so i wanted to see if anyone had posted the real meaning behind this little diddy.
apparently, this song is about a girl they knew back in the day who lived over on magazine street(a haven for rich college kids in NOLA)
she spent all of her parents money on partying, and the boys of the band loved her. so they wrote this song for heart. at least that is what the lead singer said a few years ago.
um this is a great song why isn't anyone commenting? the best part is when he says..."that it hurts to watch you waste away..."
This is about a guy who was in love with this girl, and now he's watching her from a distance, seeing her throw her future away. Everytime he does come to get close to her, she just sort of throws it back at him, and he ends up getting wasted (for a period of time) with her.
my favorite line in it is "Calmly, Like a razor" because it's an inverse statement. The razor, usually, isn't a calm object or tool, therefore the situation isn't really calm.
I love the line... "Trust fund up your nose". Wonderful reference to cocaine. The have another song with a girl name 'Ali', wonder if she's the same as this 'Allison'...
I agree with the poster above -- this isn't a song about a girl he was in love with, it's about a friend who parties, wastes her potential, uses her parent's money to get high...but is still a hell of a lot of fun to hang out with.
One of my favorite BTE songs, easily, if not my favorite. The southern sound of the guitars bursting into the uplifting distorted chorus is just some catchy stuff.