"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.
Oh, my enemy,
You've got company,
You're not alone.
They're watching over me
While each town you pass
Fades as it folds.
So in the night
We might get lost
Lost in our fright.
So in the day
Softly we'd flow,
Floating away.
And it pours
From the faucet's mouth
Like our fortune
Comes flowing out
- every word of which,
Without a doubt,
Will find us together
And together bring us down.
They'll tie us down
With those fine thin threads
And run their knives
Up and down our skin,
Until what was in
Will be out again,
Above the sea
On that sunny ledge.
And in the day
Softly we'll flow,
Floating away.
And in the night
We will get lost,
Lost in our fright.
La la la la la la.
You've got company,
You're not alone.
They're watching over me
While each town you pass
Fades as it folds.
So in the night
We might get lost
Lost in our fright.
So in the day
Softly we'd flow,
Floating away.
And it pours
From the faucet's mouth
Like our fortune
Comes flowing out
- every word of which,
Without a doubt,
Will find us together
And together bring us down.
They'll tie us down
With those fine thin threads
And run their knives
Up and down our skin,
Until what was in
Will be out again,
Above the sea
On that sunny ledge.
And in the day
Softly we'll flow,
Floating away.
And in the night
We will get lost,
Lost in our fright.
La la la la la la.
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Fast Car
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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.
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amazing song. very poetic like many other OR's tracks.
I get fucking lost in this song
So many of their songs have this murder theme running through them. Even though the lyrics are somewhat dark, this song has moved me deeply. The music is beautiful, and Will Sheff has a gift for conveying deep emotion in his vocals, no matter what he is singing about.
I don't really know what this song is about, maybe there is some unifying them that I haven't yet discovered.
And in the night, we might get lost...
We all have the same inevitable fate. Friends, foes, lovers, enemies. <br /> <br /> They're watching over me, as each town you pass fades as it folds. <br /> <br /> We are all linked. We all feel the same things. We all get lost in our fright at night sometimes. Enemies will always be linked together as humans, as will friends.