"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 speak in the store
I'm a sensitive bore
You seem markedly more
And I'm oozing surprise
But it's late in the day
And you're well on your way
What was golden went gray
And I'm suddenly shy
And the gatherin' floozies
Afford to be choosy
And all sneezing darkly
In the dimming divide
And I have read the right books
To interpret your looks
You were knocking me down
With the palm of your eye
This was unlike the story
It was written to be
I was riding its back
When it used to ride me
And we were galloping manic
To the mouth of the source
We were swallowing panic
In the face of its force
And I am blue
I am blue and unwell
Made me bolt like a horse
Now it's done
Watch it go
You've changed some
water runs from the snow
Am I so dear?
Do I run rare?
And you've changed some
Peach, plum, pear...
Peach, plum...
I'm a sensitive bore
You seem markedly more
And I'm oozing surprise
But it's late in the day
And you're well on your way
What was golden went gray
And I'm suddenly shy
And the gatherin' floozies
Afford to be choosy
And all sneezing darkly
In the dimming divide
And I have read the right books
To interpret your looks
You were knocking me down
With the palm of your eye
This was unlike the story
It was written to be
I was riding its back
When it used to ride me
And we were galloping manic
To the mouth of the source
We were swallowing panic
In the face of its force
And I am blue
I am blue and unwell
Made me bolt like a horse
Now it's done
Watch it go
You've changed some
water runs from the snow
Am I so dear?
Do I run rare?
And you've changed some
Peach, plum, pear...
Peach, plum...
Lyrics submitted by Mopnugget
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A thoroughly beautiful song, one of the most enlightening and exiting things I've listened to for an awfully long time.
This is my accompaniment to the verses:
Planned proposition They match She's exited
He's not interested Loses interest She's read books on this, she's prepared herself greatly for this opportunity, but it means she knows from the looks he gives her that he's not interested (the palm - used to push something away - of your eye) He rejects her Na na nana na - children, children/peers mocking her maybe?
NOT how she wanted it She'd made this story up Now it was going where it wanted, she rides it frightened She's panicked by this It runs to the "source" The reason she wants this relationship is because she's alone, because she wants company, because she thinks he'll make her life better, any of these, that is her original position or "source" and the story runs to that. She's back to square one.
In this position she looks back Blue now, not red with love and the exitement Unwell - lovesick?, Bolt like a horse, when horses are scared, now she is scared as a result of rejection - change
Now it's gone - She's looking back She tells herself to watch it go (letting go/release) You've changed some (change theme) Water runs from snow, it changes form (change), it runs (he ran away, if she used to be snow (her situation, or herself) and now she is water (or her situation). She's changed, and she shies (or runs) away from snow because she's scared of rejection again
It makes her question herself After being confident in her beauty/intelligence/suitability it's a knock to her confidence Is she so dear? (Is she all that she thought she was? As valuable?) Does she run rare? (Is she uniquely suitable like she thought she was? Are there many like her?) And you've changed some (prononciation of some not as "sum" but "som" a reference to her name New"som"? She's changed because of this) Peach, Plum, Pear (How she thought she'd change) Peach, Plum NO PEAR (An interruption, things don't go as planned)
I love this so much.
@LeMudCrab <br /> <br /> I like your interpretation. I'd just like to add at the end that you could hear the "No 'pear'" as "pair" instead -- i.e. they never became a couple. Could be a clever play on words on her part or just over-analysis on our part
Just noticed that someone else already suggested the "pair" thing
When I was at school, 'each peach pear plum' was a picking rhyme, an alternative to 'eeny-meeny-myah-mo' and 'one potato two potato.' (The fruits are ordered differently in order to play on the 'pear/pair' homonym and pointedly leave out the 'pair' at the end.)
Adults, here, pick partners in the same arbitrary way that children might pick playmates. If the 'floozies' can 'afford to be choosy' the implication is that the narrator can't; instead, she hopes to be chosen, but is metaphorically 'knocked down' by her love interest and withdraws. The 'golden' rush of their initial connection is replaced by 'gray' and 'blue'. The image of blood running from meat in 'Do I run rare?' echoes that of water running from snow, but the fact that it's a question means she's not admitting to having been heartbroken... maybe she was and doesn't want to admit it because to the guy and the 'floozies' the whole dating process is just a picking game, where people are selected or discarded at random. She might have blood where they only have water.
Fantastic interpretation! I love how you explain the "adults pick partners arbitrarily" thing.
People keep saying this song is about a love that ended. I think it's about one that never started. He liked her; she didn't; he moved on; they randomly see each other; she sees what she missed before, but too late--he's no longer interested. He leaves to do whatever delightful thing he has planned (or that she jealously assumes he has planned) and she's left to ponder what could have been.
I don't think she's censoring herself with the "bolt like a horse" line. I think she deliberately chose it for its ambiguity, its duplicity of meaning. And both meanings work very well within the context of the song.
On "The Milk-Eyed Mender" I definitely hear "made me bold like a horse" as it says in the liner notes (which makes more sense than "a whore" because of the "source/force" rhymes). But in the "Walnut Whales" version of the song I clearly hear "so bold like whores" (which is a bit of a slant rhyme on "source/force" but still works). My guess would be that she changed it (why is anyone's guess), and being as she is so concerned with sound, "horse" mixed with the residual "whores" and created an interesting ambiguity. In a sense, it doesn't matter what the word is, because it's more about sound than meaning anyways, I believe (in this instance).
@couriernew interesting take, as in my mind the ending T sounds is so much more pronounced in the Walnut Whales version. I used to think the line was simultaneously "bolt like a horse" and "bold like a whore" but I'm starting to think the latter was never intended by miss newsom.
Could be that peach is the young girl, plum is a little older lady and pear is even older (as in pear shaped). Anyone else see the song as a time sequence? The song screams of empowerment to me...turning the tables...in both directions...i was riding its back when it used to ride me...
To analyze joanna's lyrics is pointless?? no way!! we have to get her lyrics otherwise why the hell she works her ass off to the point of obsession for them! (ok that was a lil' over reacted but you get my point hahaha) I stick to my story: the market place encounter with a guy that 'uses' her and she ends up feeling kinda insecure after he dumped her "i have read the right books, to interpret your looks " that has to be something like Cosmopolitan magazine!! "this was unlike the story/ it was written to be/ i was riding its back/ when it used to ride me " things didn't worked as she expected...its not a fairy tale at all "now it's done/ watch it go/ you've changed some/ water ruin from the snow" She has been used by him, meaningless for him, one night stand or something, and the next paragraph is she being insecure because she doesn't knows what the hell happened am i so dear? do i run rare? you've changed some peach, plum, pear
does it makes sense to you??
god, i don't know the significance of the 3 fruits listed at the end, but I do know that no song can make me smile like this one can. the music sounds like it should be a christmas song.
I'm pretty sure its about the divide in self worth.. she works in the store but feels like a bore compared to the one who is markedly more. She talks about the other person as if they are higher than her and she feels like less of a person, i think she naively fell in love but her heart now crushed. The song tells me that she is valued less as a person because she doesn't have a rewarding career setting a divide in humanity "And I have read the right books To interpret your looks". Her naive beauty like a child in this world has opened her eyes to the ugly.
oh and "peach plum pear" turning into just "peach plum" is a play on words 'cause they're no longer a "pear" (pair)
kdone!
The idea of the song to me is that she sees someone she likes at the store, but he doesn't like her back and she's criticizing herself and explaining her emotions. At the end of the song she stares down at the produce sheepishly and sadly.
I do agree somewhat that it being in song form brings a meaning that can't be said in everyday words for the most part. The comment above about 'if I could just say it, I wouldn't write a song about it' is strange because I've had that EXACT thought about writing poetry. Maybe Joanna and I share a similar experience in life.
This is obviously about the awkward feeling of having an acquaintance whom you're interested in, and being in competition with other "floozies" for that person. She highlights how for some reason the story turned sour and awkward when she says "And I have read the right books to interpret your looks. You were knocking me down with the palm of your eye." She obviously got an awkwardly dirty look. Then, of course, she bolts like a horse because the person isn't interested, so she moves on. She encounters the person in the beginning at the store and is all shy and awkward again. Then the other person makes it clear he/she is not interested. Then she moves on. Simple.