"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.
Darling I'm lost
Adrift in the dark
I'm clutching your words
To my vampire heart once more
So let in the light
Turn me to dust
If it don't end in Bloodshed dear
It's probably not love
Here we are
In the darkest place
My reflection
Shows only your face
Something is found
Something is lost
Went looking for clues
On the streets of old New York
And I spilled someone's blood
I broke someone's heart again
Someone you know
You're looking at him my friend
And the people in our lives
We all leave behind
Leave behind
Here we are
In the darkest place
To keep from forgetting
I picture your face
And I wonder
While we count the cost
Which is sweeter
Love or it's loss
So I curse you
My vampire heart
For letting me you love you
Love you
For letting me love you
From the start
Adrift in the dark
I'm clutching your words
To my vampire heart once more
So let in the light
Turn me to dust
If it don't end in Bloodshed dear
It's probably not love
Here we are
In the darkest place
My reflection
Shows only your face
Something is found
Something is lost
Went looking for clues
On the streets of old New York
And I spilled someone's blood
I broke someone's heart again
Someone you know
You're looking at him my friend
And the people in our lives
We all leave behind
Leave behind
Here we are
In the darkest place
To keep from forgetting
I picture your face
And I wonder
While we count the cost
Which is sweeter
Love or it's loss
So I curse you
My vampire heart
For letting me you love you
Love you
For letting me love you
From the start
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To me, this song talks about the hardships of a relationship. How you love a person so much you wouldn't stand being apart from that person, even when he or she is hurting you to the point of madness.
The vampire heart, which doesn't beat anymore, lives for that person only.
The lines "And I spilled someone's blood I broke someones heart again Someone you know You're looking at him my friend" shows how, once again, beaten and heartbroken, he comes back to his lover, to me mistreated and hurt again.
Well, that's only my interpretation. I have to say, the song is raw and haunting, and even if you don;t like the song itself, it will get stuck in your head forever.
This is the most beautiful song I have ever heard Tom Mcrae sing, when he played it live at the end a concert i went to, I actually cried. It was beautiful.. and with my boyfriend holding his arms around me, whispering he loved me it was one of the best nights of my life..
I agree that this is typical Tom Mcrae, and i love his voice, but Damien Rice is good too. They play somewhat the same musical style, but its the voices that make them both special in their own way.
my vampire heart is about being afraid of love because it can hurt people, and it probably will. In the line "my reflection shows only your face" he thinks that he's lost in the other person. And with the metaphore that vampires has to live of other people's blood, and does'nt have a reflection it shows that he doesnt like the nature of how the relationship works...but of course there's probably many ways to analyze this..
If anyone says this sounds like Damien Rice I'm going to come around there and club them with a shark. This is classic McRae and is his normal high standards, which I, personally, think is above Rice. That's not to say Rice isn't good, he obviously is, but McRae is grossly overlooked like all the true genius artists of today.
I think this is going to appeal to a certain type of people. I guess there's a certain soul seeking that leaves us wondering why anyone could love us and a self destructive approach to relationships. You continuously question it and wonder why you keep going head first just to have your heart broken once again.
It's the knowing it's all going to hell and is summed up by the last section.
He definitely doesn't sound like Damien Rice. Don't know what is wrong with people's ears.
Beautiful song, of course.