"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.
Untie me, I've said no vows
The train is getting way too loud
I gotta leave here, my girl
Get on with my lonely life
Just leave the ring on the rail
For the wheels to nullify
Until this turn in my head
Let you stay and you paid no rent
I spent twelve long months on the lam
That's enough sitting on the fence
For the fear of breaking dams
I'd find a fatal flaw
In the logic of love
And go out of my head
You love a sinking stone
That'll never elope
So get used to the lonesome
Girl, you must atone some
Don't leave me no phone number there, la di da
It took me all of a year
To put the poison pill to your ear
But now I stand on honest ground
On honest ground
You wanna fight for this love
But, honey, you cannot wrestle a dove
So, baby, it's clear
You want to jump and dance
But you sat on your hands
And lost your only chance
Go back to your hometown
Get your feet on the ground
And stop floating around
I found a fatal flaw
In the logic of love
And went out of my head
You love a sinking stone
That'll never elope
So get used to used to the lonesome
Girl, you must atone some
Don't leave me no phone number there, la di da
The train is getting way too loud
I gotta leave here, my girl
Get on with my lonely life
Just leave the ring on the rail
For the wheels to nullify
Until this turn in my head
Let you stay and you paid no rent
I spent twelve long months on the lam
That's enough sitting on the fence
For the fear of breaking dams
I'd find a fatal flaw
In the logic of love
And go out of my head
You love a sinking stone
That'll never elope
So get used to the lonesome
Girl, you must atone some
Don't leave me no phone number there, la di da
It took me all of a year
To put the poison pill to your ear
But now I stand on honest ground
On honest ground
You wanna fight for this love
But, honey, you cannot wrestle a dove
So, baby, it's clear
You want to jump and dance
But you sat on your hands
And lost your only chance
Go back to your hometown
Get your feet on the ground
And stop floating around
I found a fatal flaw
In the logic of love
And went out of my head
You love a sinking stone
That'll never elope
So get used to used to the lonesome
Girl, you must atone some
Don't leave me no phone number there, la di da
Lyrics submitted by doobeydoobeydude
Gone for Good Lyrics as written by James Russell Mercer
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
AVC: In "Gone For Good," you talk about the "fatal flaw in the logic of love." What is that flaw?
JM: I guess I felt that there were too many things that love relied on, or that love required—one of them is physical attraction. I think I was just going through a period where I had this girlfriend who… Whether it's true or not, I felt that she was attracted to me for the wrong reasons. I was just having issues with this girl, and the thing that I really wanted from her was this pure, sort of regular love. And she was this person who had been through all kinds of shit emotionally, and I felt like she liked me because of the band and stuff. If somebody loved you for your money, it would give you the same feeling. Then it put me in this state where I just kept thinking about the nature of attraction and of love, and just how basically unfair it is; just how much it relies on the physical side. And that's such an important part of it, and it's something that I love about it, but in that situation, I just felt like it was artificial or something. So that fatal flaw in the logic of love would be that love is essentially a selfish act sometimes—it's something you take from someone, or you seek out because of this very instinctual animal side, the lust side of things. Therefore it's inherently unfair. I mean, there are people who won't be considered attractive, and they'll be left behind. We have this thing where we think that there's something universal and true about love, that somehow it's what's inside that counts, when in reality, to a certain extent, that's just not true. It's not actually what counts the most, and that's the fatal flaw. It's a really cynical look at it.