"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.
Sunspots cast a glare in my eyes
Sometimes I forget I'm alive
I feel it coming and I've got to get out of its way
I hear it calling and I come 'cause I can't disobey
I should not listen and I shouldn't believe
But I do
Yes I do
She turns me on
She makes me real
I have to apologize
For the way I feel
My life, it seems has taken a turn
Why in the name of God would I ever want to return?
Peel off our skin we're gonna burn what we were to the ground
Fuck in the fire and we'll spread all the ashes around
I wanna kill away the rest of what's left and I do
Yes I do
She turns me on
She makes me real
I have to apologize
For the way I feel
And nothing can stop me now
There is nothing to fear
And everything I'd ever want
Is inside of here
Ooh, I want, I want, I want, I want inside of here
Now I just stare into the sun
And I see everything I've done
I think I could have been someone
But I can't stop what has begun
When everything is said and done
And there is no place left to run
I think I used to be someone
Now I just stare into the sun
Sometimes I forget I'm alive
I feel it coming and I've got to get out of its way
I hear it calling and I come 'cause I can't disobey
I should not listen and I shouldn't believe
But I do
Yes I do
She turns me on
She makes me real
I have to apologize
For the way I feel
My life, it seems has taken a turn
Why in the name of God would I ever want to return?
Peel off our skin we're gonna burn what we were to the ground
Fuck in the fire and we'll spread all the ashes around
I wanna kill away the rest of what's left and I do
Yes I do
She turns me on
She makes me real
I have to apologize
For the way I feel
And nothing can stop me now
There is nothing to fear
And everything I'd ever want
Is inside of here
Ooh, I want, I want, I want, I want inside of here
Now I just stare into the sun
And I see everything I've done
I think I could have been someone
But I can't stop what has begun
When everything is said and done
And there is no place left to run
I think I used to be someone
Now I just stare into the sun
Lyrics submitted by christsizeshoes, edited by Cuberonix
Sunspots Lyrics as written by Trent Reznor
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think i'm the only one that notices this, but I think this song is about Galileo. He stared at the sun, studying sunspots for his entire life, which eventually caused blindness. for the line "Now I just stare into the sun and i see everything I've done, I think i could have been someone, but i can't stop what has begun. "now i just stare into the sun" Is obviously staring into the sun, which Galileo did a lot of. "And i see everything I've done" Meaning It has a hypnotic look to it(it makes his life flash before him) "I think I could have been someone" Refers to after he went blind(He wishes that he did not go blind;he feels he wasted his life.) "He can not stop what has begun" Meaning he cannot stop looking into the dun once he's begun. I think that the sexual part to the song is about how looking at the sunspots bring out a primal instinct;or sexual in this case. "When everything is said and done and there is no place left to run" refers to Galileo about to die on his death bed. "I think I used to be someone but now i stare into the sun" meaning Galileo felt like he didn';t have a name for himself anymore, but just keeps staring.
All in all I think that this song has a literal meaning to it and that NIN is intellectual enough to make a song about Galileo.