"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.
I don't want to believe that all of the above is true
But I could be persuaded if you were to give me proof
Why don't you come over Thursday maybe we can talk it through
As if some new information were possible to comprehend or introduce
After all you and I are nothing more than foregone conclusions
You were to busy steering the conversation toward the lord
To hear the voice of the spirit begging you to shut the fuck up
You thought it must be the devil trying to make you go astray
Besides it could not have been the lord because you don't believe he talks that way
Too close to call yet still so tightly wound around our foregone conclusions
But I could be persuaded if you were to give me proof
Why don't you come over Thursday maybe we can talk it through
As if some new information were possible to comprehend or introduce
After all you and I are nothing more than foregone conclusions
You were to busy steering the conversation toward the lord
To hear the voice of the spirit begging you to shut the fuck up
You thought it must be the devil trying to make you go astray
Besides it could not have been the lord because you don't believe he talks that way
Too close to call yet still so tightly wound around our foregone conclusions
Lyrics submitted by sarahsavedlatin
Foregone Conclusions Lyrics as written by David Shannon Bazan
Lyrics © DOMINO PUBLISHING COMPANY
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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yes we're still so tightly wound around our foregone conclusions. isn't that just the way we put the Lord in His place? the Lord does and / or doesn't like this. blah blah blah. way to go pedro. i heard pedro perform this at the first cornerstone florida except he put "hell" in for "fuck." i just had to start applauding. that is one of the most powerful verses i've heard in a while. way to go david
It is truly a shame that Christian culture needs a song like this. People talk about God as a way of lifting themselves up. They do not see that their pride pains the Spirit, regardless of the topic of conversation. Their legalism has blinded them to their own sin. Truly this is a song to all the plank-eyed, self-righteous biggots that have forgotten to take care of their shit before dealing with everyone elses.
Ouch... total burn. I live in the "buckle of the Bible belt" where our Christian radio stations have programs on them teaching how to turn conversations from every day talk to a salvation talk. Forget caring about them! Convert them! Pisses me off... go pedro and their cuss words!
this is BY FAR my favourite Pedro song simply for the use of the word "fuck". its so great when i heard it for the first time, i stopped the cd and laughed and just went generally nuts. i think its brilliant because of the multiple contexts it hits in that one line: he's still talking about agressive proselytizing, but by using that line about the Spirit saying "fuck", he pokes fun not only at people's foregone conclusions about God, but also, he's getting a little cheeky with those christian musician types who have been on his case to "clean up his lyrics". and i think that's why i love pedro the lion so much: its not christian praise music. i dont listen to christmas carols all year round... why should we only have happy christian music? its a fuckin joke to think christians are all smiles and good times, plenty of us are alcoholics or cheat on our spouses or mistreat our friends or doubt God's presence.
i guess depressing christian songs just make the idea of salvation seem a lot more important.
"you were too busy steering the conversation toward the Lord." To me this song is just about those irritating trying-to-convert-you type of christians
I know ptl was had a mainly christian fanbase. but being an atheist myself, I do enjoy this song and think it makes fun of bible thumpers..no offense, you believe what you believe, but tis funny as hell.
It has nothing to do with people trying to convert non-believers. It is about Christian who (in trying to follow Duet 6) use G-d as a way of making themselves "feel" better, rather than dealing with reality (a major theme in the writings of the prophets). I firmly believe PtL would be equally annoyed with Christians getting offended about the presence of fuck (mind you, Paul uses the Greek equivalent of shit) and non-Christians who hear this as an anthem by which to make fun of Christians.
The Sad Truth of the matter, is that none of us "Christians" do enough to earn the title of Christian. I think Attempted follower of Christ would be more appropriate, as most of us get on our stepladder and slap Jesus in the face on the cross just about daily.
I don't really see this as David Bazan "making fun of" God or Christians as much as I see it as most of his other music - his struggles with his faith. This one is obviously much more belligerent but I don't think it's supposed to be in any way funny or amusing. Just like the rest of this album, it's about the inadequacy of feeling the same thing people do for God with a nice tinge of Bazan's cynicism. He's awesome.
as i christian i see it as david pointing out that like people say some christians are to worrried about you seeing it they way they do and forcing it down your throat that they dont take the time to hear what you have to say and care about you and letting your example convert people. I could be wrong im not sure put thats my feeling from the way the song comes across and from expierence