"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.
There are children standing here
Arms outstretched and to the sky
Tears drying on their face
He has been here
Brothers lie in shallow graves
Fathers lost without a trace
A nation blind to their disgrace
Since he's been here
And I see no bravery
No bravery
In your eyes anymore
Only sadness
And I see no bravery
No bravery
In your eyes anymore
Only sadness
Only sadness
Houses burnt beyond repair
The smell of death is in the air
A woman weeping in despair says
He has been here
Tracers lighting up the sky
It's another family's turn to die
A child afraid to even cry out says
He has been here
And I see no bravery (no bravery)
No bravery (no bravery)
In your eyes anymore
Only sadness
And I see no bravery
No bravery
In your eyes anymore
Only sadness
There are children standing here
Arms outstretched and to the sky
But no one asks the question why
He has been here
Old men kneel to except their fate
Wives and daughters cut and raped
A generation drenched in hate says
He has been here
And I see no bravery
No bravery
In your eyes anymore only sadness
And I see no bravery
No bravery
In your eyes anymore
Anymore
Anymore
Anymore
And I see no bravery
No bravery
In your eyes anymore
Only sadness
And I see no bravery
No bravery
In your eyes anymore
Only sadness
Only sadness
Arms outstretched and to the sky
Tears drying on their face
He has been here
Brothers lie in shallow graves
Fathers lost without a trace
A nation blind to their disgrace
Since he's been here
And I see no bravery
No bravery
In your eyes anymore
Only sadness
And I see no bravery
No bravery
In your eyes anymore
Only sadness
Only sadness
Houses burnt beyond repair
The smell of death is in the air
A woman weeping in despair says
He has been here
Tracers lighting up the sky
It's another family's turn to die
A child afraid to even cry out says
He has been here
And I see no bravery (no bravery)
No bravery (no bravery)
In your eyes anymore
Only sadness
And I see no bravery
No bravery
In your eyes anymore
Only sadness
There are children standing here
Arms outstretched and to the sky
But no one asks the question why
He has been here
Old men kneel to except their fate
Wives and daughters cut and raped
A generation drenched in hate says
He has been here
And I see no bravery
No bravery
In your eyes anymore only sadness
And I see no bravery
No bravery
In your eyes anymore
Anymore
Anymore
Anymore
And I see no bravery
No bravery
In your eyes anymore
Only sadness
And I see no bravery
No bravery
In your eyes anymore
Only sadness
Only sadness
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this song is so beautiful. im in love. its just incredible. james has a great talent in expressing what he has witnessed in kosovo into an amazing song. for some reason he reminds me of jeff buckley.
"There are children standing here, Arms outstretched into the sky, Tears drying on their face. He has been here...... ....................... Old men kneel and accept their fate. Wives and daughters cut and raped. A generation drenched in hate. Yes, he has been here."
if that doesnt stir up emotions in you there is something wrong with you. the entire song is touching and heart-wrenching.
I dont find the song beautiful. I find the song scary, if you dont cry then it is hard to understand...lol
first of all BlazeMe you're talking crap! yes the serbs did a lot of bad thing, but so did the albanians. i am not serbian but i lived there at the time and many serbs had to leave their homes in kosovo if they wanted to live. i'm not gonna say albanians did this, serbs did that, it was the brainwashed nationalists who created all that propaganda.
no bravery is probably about after the war, when you were one of those people all brave, willing to die for your country, and you see all this shit that happend to your family and could have been done by someone like you, you feel ashamed
Last year I went to Poland and visited Auschwitz, and this song reminds me of that place and what took place there, it does reduce you to tears if you visit a place like that and then listen to this song. And listen people..... STOP INSULTING JAMES BLUNT ALL THE BLOODY TIME HE HAS DONE NOTHING WRONG IF YOU DON'T LIKE HIS MUSIC THAN DON'T WASTE YOUR BREATHE COMPLAINING ABOUT IT!!!! thank you!
Myself, because I'm a geek, apply this to Harry Potter. 'He' being Voldemort, and it's like they're losing the War against the Death Eaters. But that's just me ;)
EVERY war has atrocities and horror, regardless of "who" is involved, whether it's a "justifiable" war, etc.. That's what James sings about. ie. war always involves 1) the presence of evil .. 2) good men standing idle when they could have instead {at risk to themselves} intervened .. 3) civilian carnage and terror.
"Loose Tongue" proudly represents the useful idiots who point out the obvious basic criticisms of war, but lack a non-emotional (ie. logical) alternative. Being overly self-critical, holding hands and praying to your god, sticking the head in the sand, etc. won't cut it ... take that leap of faith with YOUR family, but the appeasement approach doesn't work when it comes to my loved ones! (ever deal with a schoolyard bully?)
Milosevic was ethnic-cleansing, and the US got involved to help stop it (while most of Europe stood by). Saddam was/had been ethnic cleansing as well, not to mention shooting @ US jets enforcing 'no-fly' zones, and {at minimum} misleading the UN re: whether he had truly destroyed his KNOWN WMD programs AS REQUIRED by MULTIPLE UN MANDATES. So what is worse - - entering into war knowing it will produce casualties? ... or standing by until FORCED into it, which invariably leads to exponentially greater casualties? The former trumps the latter. WWII should have proved that to everyone but the willfully blind.
Diplomacy is vital, and war always sucks because of the pain and death it causes... but every act of war is not universally "wrong" if it prevents greater pain in the long run. James' song unintentionally reinforces that argument.
babykosova5 do some research.
serbs also died because of the albanians. Nobodys inoccent. Clinton lied about the total deaths in kosovo.
Go to: eagleforum.org/column/1999/nov99/99-11-24.html
Not all serbs are assholes. Neither are albanians but the way your talking makes you look like an asshole.
i read this from that website && i got really pissed of that Albanians even target grandmas && burn down churches were it is a sign of respect.
"The NATO "peacekeeping" force in Kosovo is completely unable to restrain the Albanians who are beating and murdering the Serbs (even targeting grandmothers) and burning their homes and churches. More Serb civilians have been slaughtered in Kosovo than ethnic Albanians before the bombing began. "
What do people write in here..I am shocked..How many of you is from Serbia? How many of you has ever come to Serbia and met Serbs? You should talk to the foreign people who did and read less what they say in the news, you know. As a Serbian girl I must say that I am offended by some things that people wrote in here.."Serbian gangs raped and murdered innocent people.." and stuff like that.. It was 1996 when I visited Kosovo last( my father is from there), and in 1999 my father's family had to leave their homes and they have lived there for centuries, their neighbors were Albanians but they functioned pretty well until people from all over the world started to mettle in smt that is not their concern. That is the truth. Not all Albanians are bad but definitely neither all Serbs are..For war you need two sides..So this song is, as all of you know, about James' impression of war in Kosovo..just an impresiion, not an attack to Milosevic or Blaire or any other politician, it is about war..and innocent people who turned into victims..so let us listen to this great song and think about how happy we are that the war is over and about all those poor people who lost their lives..that is all that matters.
Good lord, can you people keep your political views to yourself and stick to the spirit of the site - the song's actual meaning? Personally, the "He" is not so much the ravages of war itself, but war plus ethnic cleansing. It's said he was the first British officer to enter the capital of Kosovo. He had to have seen some pretty horrific things, and some of his life performances kinda show that as he closes the song. Every veteran winds up seeing some terrible things they'd rather not talk about, even if they're in the back lines on the artillary.
Incredible song - apparently written whilst James was serving in the British Army in Kosovo. Stunning observation on the futility of war and the devastating effects to all involved. The lyrics say it all.
definitely one of the most beautiful songs on the album and of 2005 to date! Who do you think the "HE" he keeps referring to is? could just be giving the war a persona but i think maybe theres more to it any ideas?
by "HE" i think james blunt means slobodan milosevic not sure though
'he' is a metaphore for the war!!! james is saying all the stuff about what happens at war and afte wa.... so 'he has been here' means war has been here
He means either the Devil/Death or War as a persona. The whole point of the song is that he is not blaming any one person but War itself. The song is quite spectacular and you see how talented the guy really is. If you go to a museum (for example the Museum of the Atlantic Wall near Normandy) and you are faced with lots of weapons and large bullets, and you start to think about what it would be like to be at the receiving end of these, then you can really imagine what inspired him to write the song and the way he cries the lyrics out, it is scary. It is the most emotionally potent and by implication effective pacifist song that I have ever heard.
When he says "he", he is summing up all of the people who do these things. So, in a way, he means Satan, or people who are responsible for screwing up the world. Tally-ho.