"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.
I have to drive
I have my reasons, dear
Its cold outside
I hate the seasons here
They suffer mornings most of all
I feel so powerless and small
By ten o’clock I’m back in bed
fighting the jury in my head
We lean to drive
Its fairly common, dear
My friend and I
I’m really frightened here
We suffer mornings most of all
We take our oxygen mask off
A sound goes thick and makes us breath
But there’s no choice we have to breath
It is a delicate position
Spin the bottle
End transmission
Something’s leaking
It’s the weekend
It’s the weekend
Oh Christ the claws are broken
We’ll have to drive
Or else they’ll catch us
Jest get inside
And take our chance’s
We suffer mornings most of all
Wake in a Twisted mess and craw to find a telephone and call
Meet you In an hour at the bar
I have my reasons, dear
Its cold outside
I hate the seasons here
They suffer mornings most of all
I feel so powerless and small
By ten o’clock I’m back in bed
fighting the jury in my head
We lean to drive
Its fairly common, dear
My friend and I
I’m really frightened here
We suffer mornings most of all
We take our oxygen mask off
A sound goes thick and makes us breath
But there’s no choice we have to breath
It is a delicate position
Spin the bottle
End transmission
Something’s leaking
It’s the weekend
It’s the weekend
Oh Christ the claws are broken
We’ll have to drive
Or else they’ll catch us
Jest get inside
And take our chance’s
We suffer mornings most of all
Wake in a Twisted mess and craw to find a telephone and call
Meet you In an hour at the bar
Lyrics submitted by saikoboi
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This is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. I saw her perform this live at the Sydney Opera House. It left me in tears. It is about having to keep going no matter what.
personally, i've adopted the drunk-driver-kills-a-dear perspective for this song. this is why i sometimes get chills at 'forgetting everything we saw/i'll meet you in an hour. at the car' because it implies this incident is going to repeat itself despite all the repenting she did earlier, and there's this sense of surrendering into our innate human flaws, while aware how lucky we are to be so moved by life's shit.
it does harmonise well with the 'having to keep going no matter what' idea though.
amanda is not a one-dimensional artist.
ah i couldn't make out some of the words for this song. i wrote down the words from a live version of the song. so does anybody have any corrections?
actually, i think "we try to take a decent break" is "we tried to dig a decent grave" but if we have different versions, who knows. amanda tends to change around lyrics a lot in various shows. i couldn't make out "but it's still a morning to behave"... but it could be right.
i LOVE this song.
ha yay someone finally left a comment! i love this song too. it's one of my favorite songs by them. i hope that they do it in the studio. "we tried to dig a decent grave" makes more sense because they saw someone lying in the road?where did you get your version of the song? i got it from automaticjoy.com
I have a completely different earlier version that has half of those same lyrics...
Amanda sings the song differently every time.
This song is pretty straight foward, actually. It's about choosing who to save and who to let go. It's about helping others or let them help themselves. You have to "drive" by them; "we suffer mornings" because we all feel too young and helpless.
You see somebody dying on the streets from firearms, do you save them or do you not? Do you drive on by, like you're supposed by the law; or do you pick them up and risk your life?
It's right versus wrong; guilt versus pride.
I may be totally off.
I once emailed Amanda herself about thing song, and she said this... "have to drive has changed 4 times. mostly right now it's about having to drive and hitting deers" Lets try to look @ it that way!
Could you let me in on how you contacted her? I'd like to ask a similar question. .
Original lyrics... I have to drive I have my reasons, dear Its cold outside I hate the seasons here They suffer mornings most of all I feel so powerless and small By ten o’clock I’m back in bed fighting the jury in my head
We lean to drive Its very common, dear my friend and I I’m very frightened. here
We suffer mornings most of all we take our oxygen mask off A song goes thick and makes us breath We have no choice we have to breath It is a delicate passion Spin the bottle End transmission something leaking It’s the weekend It’s the weekend Oh Christ the claws are broken
We’ll have to drive Or else they’ll catch us Jest get inside And take our chance’s
We suffer mornings most of all Wake in a Twisted mess and call to find a telephone and cough “Meet you In an hour at the bar”
I have/know of two different versions to this song. The one with only Amanda & Brian, listed here, and the one featuring the ambitious orchestra which has very different lyrics. Since that is the one most readily available, that is probably why there is so much confusion. Here are the lyrics to the version with the Ambitious Orchestra which you can find on automaticjoy.com:
I have to drive I have my reasons, dear it's cold outside I hate the seasons here
I suffer mornings most of all I feel so powerless and small by 10 o' clock I'm back in bed fighting the jury in my head
we learn to drive it's only natural, dear we drive all night we haven't slept in years
we suffer mornings most of all we saw you lying in the road we try to dig a decent grave but it's still a morning to behave
it is a delicate position spin the bottle pick the victim posing upright follow directions blast the network oh, an impossible decision
we'll have to drive they're getting closer just get inside it's almost over
we will save your brothers we will save your cousins we will drive them far away from streets and signs from all trace of bad mankind
we suffer mornings most of all wake up all bleary eyed and crawl to find a telephone call in each ear meet me at the car