"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.
The king's crossing was the main attraction
Dominoes are falling in a chain reaction
The scraping subject ruled by fear told me
Whiskey works better than beer
The judge is on vinyl, decisions are final
And nobody gets a reprieve
And every wave is tidal if you hang around
You're going to get wet
I can't prepare for death any more than I already have
All you can do now is watch the shells
The game looks easy that's why it sells
Frustrated fireworks inside your head
Are going to stand and deliver talk instead
The method acting that pays my bills
Keeps the fat man feeding in Beverly hills
I got a heavy metal mouth that hurls obscenity
And I get my check from the trash treasury
'Cause I took my own insides out
It don't matter 'cause I had no sex life
All I want to do now is inject my ex wife
I've seen the movie and I know what happens
It's a Christmas time
And the needles on the tree
A skinny Santa is bringing something to me
His voice is overwhelming, but his speech is slurred
And I only understand every other word
"Open your parachute and grab your gun
Falling down like an omen, a setting sun
Read the part and we turn out fine
It's a hell of a role if you can keep it alive
But I don't care if I fuck up
I'm going on a date with a rich white lady
Ain't life great?
Give me one good reason not to do it (because we love you)
This is a place where time reverses
Dead men talk to all the pretty nurses
Instruments shine on a silver tray
Don't let me be carried away
Don't let me be carried away
Don't let me be carried away
Dominoes are falling in a chain reaction
The scraping subject ruled by fear told me
Whiskey works better than beer
The judge is on vinyl, decisions are final
And nobody gets a reprieve
And every wave is tidal if you hang around
You're going to get wet
I can't prepare for death any more than I already have
All you can do now is watch the shells
The game looks easy that's why it sells
Frustrated fireworks inside your head
Are going to stand and deliver talk instead
The method acting that pays my bills
Keeps the fat man feeding in Beverly hills
I got a heavy metal mouth that hurls obscenity
And I get my check from the trash treasury
'Cause I took my own insides out
It don't matter 'cause I had no sex life
All I want to do now is inject my ex wife
I've seen the movie and I know what happens
It's a Christmas time
And the needles on the tree
A skinny Santa is bringing something to me
His voice is overwhelming, but his speech is slurred
And I only understand every other word
"Open your parachute and grab your gun
Falling down like an omen, a setting sun
Read the part and we turn out fine
It's a hell of a role if you can keep it alive
But I don't care if I fuck up
I'm going on a date with a rich white lady
Ain't life great?
Give me one good reason not to do it (because we love you)
This is a place where time reverses
Dead men talk to all the pretty nurses
Instruments shine on a silver tray
Don't let me be carried away
Don't let me be carried away
Don't let me be carried away
Lyrics submitted by Mopnugget, edited by Jate, Fclssns3, ian1774721, Mellow_Harsher, dogcity, TheBee, sloathe, allaf
King's Crossing Lyrics as written by Steven Paul Smith
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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i originally posted this as a response to another interpretation by "tawdryhepburnon," who, i believe, made many valid points. i'm sorry if i'm breaking the rules by re-posting it but i feel that it's important to note that addiction has it's own language.
i disagree with you on a few points.
you wrote: "Smith is a "Method actor" because he is getting inside the 'character' of Elliott Smith by relapsing on drugs because he cannot write without them."
the dictionary definition of method acting is: "a dramatic technique in which actors identify as closely as possible with the character played by correlating experiences from their personal lives to the character."
he is a "method actor" because his work is a catalog of his personal pain.
in reference to the lines:
"Open your parachute and grab your gun"
you wrote, "Smith feels at war with himself, so he extends the acting metaphor from before to imply that his 'method acting' of heroin addiction is part of his audition for a war movie."
actually, parachuting is a way to do meth. you put a little dab in a bit of tissue or piece of toilet paper and swallow it. the term "gun" refers to a syringe (i.e. happiness is a warm gun).
lastly, in reference to the lines,"
"It don't matter because I have no sex life All I want to do now is inject my ex-wife I've seen the movie And I know what happens"
you wrote: "He feels emasculated because he cannot function sexually and now he is being penetrated by the feminine heroin. The movie metaphor, a reference to living near Hollywood, his music appearing in films and the perceived 'glamor' of heroin in media, continues."
i don't believe the first two lines have anything to do with emasculation/penetration, but rather the fact that when you have a hardcore dope habit you are married to it. it's what you go to work for. it's what you center your life around.
furthermore, the last two lines are a reference to the movie "trainspotting" which doesn't glamorize heroin use in anyway. unless dead babies and dead friend with aids are glamorize.
i appreciate your attention to detail but i believe you have to have had an up close and personal relationship with smack to get a lot of the references.
I agree almost totally with your last statement, there. It's not something that you can analyze through a window (though Travolta did a pretty damn good job in a role that probably did its part, along with Kurt C, Layne, heroin chic,. and all the rest, not in glamorizing heroin, because it almost all ends in death even in those portraits real or not, but in accidentally giving it a "cool" taboo kind of image and turning on a good portion of the 18-24 "Haven't quite entirely figured their life direction out yet" crowd.) <br /> <br /> I feel, though, that this song also seems to be at some parts (It don't matter 'cause I've got no sex life, and all I want to do is inject my ex-wife, for instance) about the desire that Elliott must have felt at times after doing a huge, huge, shot for a layman (tolerance to heroin builds exponentially. Someone with no opioid tolerance could make a good Saturday night of $10 worth and maybe more if it's good and depending on what region they live in/how they administer it, yet $200-300 worth would have probably been just barely enough for a 24 hour period for Elliott or Kurt Cobain at their peak, or maybe even not enough for the former, from what I've read) Elliott felt tempted to simply give up ever trying to give up the emotional numbness/insulation and euphoria that heroin provided for him and to just keep at it till the end of the road. In this view, a line like "Seen the movie..." might well refer to Elliott knowing that this isn't sustainable in any realistic way at all, but still being tempted/wanting to go for it when the pressures in his life really added up. It's sad that his life had to end the way it did, and I'm just as against everyone interpreting all of his songs as being about heroin as anyone, but this one clearly is. King's Crossing is a walk through the pains and pleasures of the things that Elliott attempts to use to cope with his internal state, and of simply being Elliott Smith at the time and feeling very depressed. That "Because we love you..." always gets to me...
i hate to be a nitpicking bitch but it's not possible to buy $10 worth of opiates. Really. Go try. also, elliott was know to do up to $800 worth in a sitting. elliott smith died quite a while ago and i know all you english majors tend to romanticize this shit (props, i have a degree in english as well but i'm also a trailor park girl i've lost my little brother, my mother, and two of my best friends to heroin in the past 2 and a half years, and shit had become wicked different.<br /> <br /> 1# you don't have to shoot it anymore, you can smoke it, snort it and drink it.<br /> 2# a hit only costs about $25 (in ohio) but only lasts about 30 minutes<br /> 3# none of it's pure anymore. my friend died 2 weeks ago because the smack she bought was cut with cyanide<br /> <br /> the reason people do heroin is because their pain is so great that being able to get rid of it for even a few hours is worth the risk.<br /> <br /> and i must disagree with you about travolta in pulp fiction. that was some sexy-ass glamorize shit indeed. everytime i watch it it makes me want to do it. even though i know better.<br /> <br /> kisses,<br /> <br /> nicole
also, "heroin chic" does indeed glamorize heroin use. it's the definition of the fucking term for crying out loud.
i'm sorry. i'm being a bitch. i hope you understand. i'm just feeling really raw right now. all apologies.