"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.
Welcome my son, welcome to the machine
Where have you been?
It's alright we know where you've been
You've been in the pipeline, filling in time
Provided with toys and 'scouting for boys'
You brought a guitar to punish your ma
And you didn't like school, and you
Know you're nobody's fool
So welcome to the machine
Welcome my son, welcome to the machine
What did you dream?
It's alright we told you what to dream
You dreamed of a big star
He played a mean guitar
He always ate in the Steak Bar
He loved to drive in his Jaguar
So welcome to the machine
Where have you been?
It's alright we know where you've been
You've been in the pipeline, filling in time
Provided with toys and 'scouting for boys'
You brought a guitar to punish your ma
And you didn't like school, and you
Know you're nobody's fool
So welcome to the machine
Welcome my son, welcome to the machine
What did you dream?
It's alright we told you what to dream
You dreamed of a big star
He played a mean guitar
He always ate in the Steak Bar
He loved to drive in his Jaguar
So welcome to the machine
Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae, edited by Mellow_Harsher, nasses321, DanVitaleRocks
Welcome to the Machine Lyrics as written by George Roger Waters
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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In your youth you tried real hard to rebel against the establishment and your parents... You didn't even realize that this was exactly what was expected from you. In reality you didnt "rebel" but did exactly what was expected. Now you have built your believe system, and it contains exactly what was fed to you without you even realizing it. Now you're integrated into the machine and dont even know it. Everything you believe you came up with yourself was really programmed into you by your TV, brainwashed friends, madison avenue, school, university, and so on. You dont even know that you're a slave.
that's what this song tells you, and you dont even understand it.
listen to the best talk radio show at : Infowars.com might help you to break out of the matrix, but don't get shocked, you may at first not like what you see... Nobody likes to hear that everything he thought was true was in fact a lie.
I completely agree with bloodomen's post. <br /> <br /> The machine is programming that everyone receives throughout their lives. The programming is everything people believe in, hopes, goals, wishes, etc... For example, the common conception of an ideal life, go to grade school then on to college/grad school, get a job, start a family, buy a house, retire, and die. The machine is basically a path laid out to everyone, deciding your fate. It's a form of control. <br /> <br /> The song does seem to hint at the nature vs. nurture debates. The song seems to be in the point of view of a father opening his sons eyes to the machine. The father shows how both parents decided the son's fate,just by the way they raised him.<br /> <br /> "What did you dream? It's alright, we told you what to dream."
@bloodomen Keep that conspiracy shite to yourself, Alex Jones is a goddamn fool and so are you for following him. Call me brainwashed all you want I don't give a shit at least I'm not regurgitating some conspiracy trash
@bloodomen Man I was totally with you until that infowars bit...
Sometimes the people who claim to be "leading you out of the matrix" are just little demi-god wannabes who use hate and paranoia to scare you into trapping yourself in their own matrix, where they can dominate your mind and sell you supplements. Infowars.com is right wingnut conspiracy madness, clickbait clicker beware!
It seems certain folks here don’t appreciate the flavour of truth that bloodomen is serving up; at tad too spicy for the slaves of MSM and Woke profs at their community colleges. Saul Goodman - few have the courage or moral framework to recognize the true nature of The Machine.<br /> <br /> Be nice...go back to sleep.
@bloodomen It's actually just about professional musicians, goofball.
@bloodomen LOL an ad for infowars. This post holds up really well today. Infowars made zillions peddling lies to gullible fools, and Alex Jones will spend the rest of his life in court paying for it. Hopefully.
@Danvitalerocks<br /> you are the perfect example of my 12y old analysis. you are a slave of the machine and too stupid to realize it. Alex has his flaws, but most of his takes are pretty spot on.
I think everyone has said some really good stuff about this song. I definitely think it has to do with the music industry and there control over the musicians but i also think it is talking about the world as a whole. People are controlled by the way society wants them to act. The song is saying "we know where youve been" and "we know what you've dreamed" because thats where they told them to go and thats what they told them to dream. Its a great song with alot of meaning to it. People should take this song to heart and realize that we need to not let our lives be ruined. Be yourself. And i really dont think this song is about machines in reality, that was all a metaphor.
It's talking about the musical machine and how basically the record companies control their musicians.
I think the machine is a metaphor to the music business Roger Waters had to endure. at the end of the song the elevator goes up and the you hear all the people talking, drinking etc. Then it goes into have a cigar which is obviously about the record label owner telling "Pink" (haha, which ones Pink?) that he (ahem) really loves the band and that they're making a lot of money...
This song, as Waters said, is about the record industry, just like "Freak on a Leash" or a number of other songs. I believe it can have multiple meanings too, much like the government, (espiecally in post-Patriot Act America). We're not far from "1984" or the Soviet Union, or even Nazi Germany, the song is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Very Interesting thoughts on this song.
However, I feel that I know the meaning of this song and no one has really hit on it.
The meaning of this song is.... are you ready?...
Death.
It is soo obvious, because they are talking about the persons life in the past tense, as if it is over, "You always ate in the steak bar", "loved to ride in your jaguar", almost like a eulogy, but there is a twist.
It starts out describing the persons (the charactor of the songs) life from how they were little and what their personality was, by buying a guitar to punish his ma.
The machine is where he ends up to his surprise after his death, and the machine is the origin of life and where you return after you are dead (in the song). So, naturally the machine knows everything he did, thought, loved and dreamed while he was alive because it was the creator of him.
The theme is sort of an alien version of the origin of life, that aliens, created his life and he is "welcomed" back to the machine at the end of his life. This should be painfully obvious by the sounds of the record, trying to emulate the noises of an alien spacecraft. The elevator at the end is the charactor of the song being transported from the welcoming area of the machine to the bigger area where all of the other people who have died are located, hence the noise of many people, of a crowd.
Have a cigar is about the music business. Welcome to the machine is about the charactor of the song finding himself dead and being welcomed back to the alien machine, and the aliens that were the creators of his life. I'm not saying I believe this version of creation, but it is very obvious that this is what this song is about.
What do you think the robot hands on the album represent,... They represent robots, aliens, the future.
Pink floyd was always know for making music that was way out there. In Dark side of the moon they covered themes of life: Money, home, time, etc.
Welcome to the machine is Pink Floyd's version of a science fiction song, about alien's being the creators, of life and the charactor dies and is welcomed back to the machine from whence he came, and to prove it the alens, or the machine recount his entire life for him.
@a13510 LOVE the profound creativeness in this idea!!! Now to wonder... if the aliens welcome him back... how is The Machine of Death any different from The Machine of Life itself? are they simply all "free" there? unlike the version of his earth life? What would be the point of the aliens creating him on the earth, only to welcome him back to reflect on it? :)
@a13510 Very interesting! I agree!<br /> I think the 'aliens' you mean would be better described as the 'machine elves' (by Terence McKenna).<br /> @kimmisty50 Has to do with reincarnation, living many lives where you 'play' different personas and adventure, but then always come back to the origin.
My view of the song is a little different from most of these. To me it seems like its just talking about how when you're a young, you think you have everything figured out and you want to grow up to be rich and famout. "you bought a guitar to punish your ma...you didnt like school, and you know youre nobody's fool". And in the end you have no choice because it is not up to you whether someone picks you to be a big rich and famous rockstar and you must grow up and do exactly what you thought would never have to. "Welcome to the machine" is basically saying, "youre not a kid anymore, welcome to the real world you can either get a job you hate or be poor and homeless and not be able to do anything you want...your choice"
YES! That is exactly what the song is trying to suggest. This is the only comment I've seen so far that puts the song into perspective based on the grand scheme of things. everyone is right about the music industry part. But thats only because the album is a story and the characters particular battle with the machine involves the music industry. But as all stories do, this one has an overall concept that it is trying to teach about life. That we're slaves to money, conformity and routine living. And we're all just a part of the machine and there's nothing we can really do about. Unless you decide to become a degenerate and disenfranchise the machine all together.
This song is one big metaphor for life. The lyrics suggest that life is a machine. We're told what to do and what to like and dislike, and even what to dream. We’re told that the things we should desire most in life are money, wealth, and power. Welcome to the machine warns us about all the hardships we will encounter during life. This song is rather depressing because it takes the beauty out of life itself. Welcome to the machine suggests life is full of repetition and breakdowns. Life, like machines, don't run as smoothly as they could. Parts wear down and sometimes break. Ultimately, machines are destroyed because they are just too old and worn out. This is just what I think. I know that the whole album is about Syd and the music industry, but that’s the great thing about Pink Floyd. Their songs can be applied to anything. Definitely the greatest band ever.
Well, if they are talking about "machines" in society telling you how to live, it's quite funny because they are part of it as well. This song is part of the machine, it tells you to rebel against the other parts.
@halberd25 The song is clearly about Life Support. Succumbing to robotic machinery in a life or death scenario. I like the song because it relates to me EXCEPT for the lyrics" Didn\'t like school? " I loved school.. As a matter of fact, I kept trying to go back to learn more and more studies.
I think the first few were just about dead on. Has anyone ever read the book The Giver? If not check it out at your library or something. It is a lot like this song. The whole song just kind of makes your hair stand on your head.How "The Machine" tries to control us and tell us what to do. But "The Machine" isn't actually a machine at all, but the people that run everything. They try to control everything we do, say, think, and even everything we create. They are trying to make a perfect world. A world without corruption. But what they don't realize is that they are the corruption. They are The Machine............................