"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.
We live on a mountain
Right at the top
There's a beautiful view
From the top of the mountain
Every morning I walk towards the edge
And throw little things off
Like car-parts, bottles and cutlery
Or whatever I find lying around
It's become a habit
A way to start the day
I go through all this
Before you wake up
So I can feel happier
To be safe up here with you
I go through all this
Before you wake up
So I can feel happier
To be safe up here with you
It's real early morning
No-one is awake
I'm back at my cliff
Still throwing things off
I listen to the sounds they make
On their way down
I follow with my eyes 'til they crash
Imagine what my body would sound like
Slamming against those rocks
When it lands
Will my eyes
Be closed or open?
I go through all this
Before you wake up
So I can feel happier
To be safe up here with you
I go through all this
Before you wake up
So I can feel happier
To be safe up here with you
I go through all this
Before you wake up
So I can feel happier
To be safe up here with you
Safe up (here with you)
Right at the top
There's a beautiful view
From the top of the mountain
Every morning I walk towards the edge
And throw little things off
Like car-parts, bottles and cutlery
Or whatever I find lying around
It's become a habit
A way to start the day
I go through all this
Before you wake up
So I can feel happier
To be safe up here with you
I go through all this
Before you wake up
So I can feel happier
To be safe up here with you
It's real early morning
No-one is awake
I'm back at my cliff
Still throwing things off
I listen to the sounds they make
On their way down
I follow with my eyes 'til they crash
Imagine what my body would sound like
Slamming against those rocks
When it lands
Will my eyes
Be closed or open?
I go through all this
Before you wake up
So I can feel happier
To be safe up here with you
I go through all this
Before you wake up
So I can feel happier
To be safe up here with you
I go through all this
Before you wake up
So I can feel happier
To be safe up here with you
Safe up (here with you)
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Fast Car
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I never considered this song in terms of an abusive or bad relationship--in fact, I just signed this morning up so I could provide an alternate view. :)
I've always related to "Hyper-Ballad" from the perspective of a kind of wild, sometimes destructive person who's found love...which is this very fragile thing. You're almost a danger to it in your wildness. The morning ritual described in the song is a way to act out and still be in touch with your anger, your destructiveness...and makes you okay to return to the stability, sweetness or gentleness of the relationship.
I agree with you. This song inspired a book of my own. I wanted to get a deeper handle on the words to the song. Your take on it, which was at the top of the list - explained feelings and emotions of the characters I created. I have heard too many times that it's about being in an abusive relationship - which would be quite the opposite for the people in my book. I like your translation the best!
this is one of my favorite Bjork tunes.. i think it's about sorting through your shit in order to get over it and be happy with the one you're with.. dealing with anger, perhaps.. haven't QUITE pinned it's meaning down yet, but for some reason it makes me so happy..
it's too beautiful. she can't let herself become too wrapped up in the view, the love, and the luxury...she has to calm herself with an attempt to destroy it, probably because she's never experienced such happiness, it's too much, it's hyper-happiness.
I see the girl in a secure and safe relationship (possibly a marriage?). However she feels removed from her old life (right at the top). Although life is beautiful, she's distanced from everything else. She misses the people/places/privacy/excitement of living HER life as opposed to her life with him.
Disatisfied with the boring(?) life on top of the mountain with him, she drops objects over the edge. She doesn't do this in anger, but more to test what it's like falling from the life at the top to a life below. This symbolises her thinking about leaving. She wonders whether she would be happier living her life without him or if she would 'die' in the process. This is probably an emotional 'death' (as in losing her true love) but it could also have a physical aspect (as in losing money/belongings/kids in a messy break up or divorce). If she didn't test it she might throw herself off without thinking and then what would happen? She is so deeply in love/committed that the drop from where she is now to being alone is immense in comparison to leaving a new/undeveloped relationship. she feels too far up to leave without severely harming/killing herself.
She throws things off in privacy as she does in fact love him so she doesn't want him to be hurt by the fact that she even thinks about leaving, nor does she want to fight (thus no anger). In the end she forces herself to be content in staying with him, as she feels safe from the rocks below, but she never stops thinking about crashing onto them and just what would happen if she ever decided to make that move.
It could also be her thinking what would happen if HE left, and what would become of her. However the song does make us feel that she is somewhat in control of whether she falls or not so I doubt this is the case.
@hello_ily Ten years after this post, I agree. It's about the temptation of breaking loose and not settling down, while you know you are blessed to have that beautiful partner.
THis song is totally happy and optimistic as Bjork herself is. There is actually nothing negative about this song, excluding the imagining her body crashing part. She goes through these daily rituals before her sleeping lover wakes up to kind of frighten and entertain herself, so when he wakes she is much more appreciative of him, she feels safer, and happier to be with him. Someone like Bjork has a big imagination and I can see her doing this on a day to day basis, plus she lives in Iceland what else is there to do!
and also you know.. the tile of the song 'hyper-ballad' ballads being about love, hyper being over the top.
This song does not have a negative meaning for me nor does it represent a bad relationship. It is about a restless soul.
She begins with beautiful imagery describing where her and her love lives. This almost sounds as if it is read out of a story book which can be describing how wonderful this love is... perfect! However, because of how isolated she is with him and how disconnected she is with the rest of the world, she does these little rituals to imagine what it is like to be down there. Although a bit gruesome, imagining falling off the cliff allows her to have the option of being able to leave her perfect mountain. I don't think she really wants to, she just enjoys entertaining the thought. She is a wild creature and has since established a more stable life that she enjoys but still needs that feeling of freedom.
I actually recently moved away from my family and friends to live with my husband in NYC (the mountain top). And although the marriage could not be more satisfying, I still need that feeling of freedom. I too, practice rituals that keep me feeling free though still devoted to my husband.
Beautiful Song about the beauty of a wild soul in love.
This song is about ANXIETY. it epitomizes anxiety.
@venus6 | Totally agree, it's about the anxiety that some people feel when being in a relationship, the bad thoughts generated by doubts and insecurity...emotional dependency ...
It's about anxiety and self-harm. The lyrics describe destructive behaviors, throwing things off a mountain. Imagining what her body would sound like slamming against those rocks. Cutters and other self-harming people hurt themselves in order to relieve tension and be able to function normally after they've performed these rituals. She hides this behavior from him, and hurts herself "before you wake up, so I can feel happier to be safe again with you".
This song is not a sad song. The title Hyperballad should prove that. Ballad is usually a romantic song and hyper means intensity. Intense love.
She throws all the stuff off the cliff and imagines herself going off the cliff herself probably as a way to let go of some of the intensity. She feels extremely wild and crazy in love that she has to let some of it go so she can feel safer with the person she loves. Not physically safe, just mentally safer.