"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's perfect harmony
In the rising and the falling of the sea
And as we sail along
I never fail to be astounded by the things we'll do for promises
And a song
We are the innocent
We are the damned
We were caught in the middle of the madness
Hunted by the lion and the lamb oh, oh
We bring you fantasy
We bring you pain
It's your one great chance for a miracle
Or we will disappear
Never to be seen again
And all the fools sailed away
All the fools sailed away
Sailed away
We bring you beautiful
We teach you sin
We can give you a piece of the universe
Or we will disappear
Never to return again
And all the fools sailed away
All the fools sailed away
All the fools sailed away
They sailed away
Sailed away
And as we drift along
I never fail to be astounded by the things we'll do for promises
And a song
We are the innocent
We cut we bleed
We're your one great chance for a miracle
And a miracle is something you need
They'll take your diamonds
And then give you steel
You'll be caught in the middle of the madness
Just lost like them
And part of all the pain that they feel, yeah
And all the fools sailed away
All the fools sailed away
All the fools sailed away
Leaving nothing, nothing more to say
All the fools sailed away
They say you're beautiful
And they'll always let you in
But doors are never open
To the child without a trace of sin
Sail away
In the rising and the falling of the sea
And as we sail along
I never fail to be astounded by the things we'll do for promises
And a song
We are the innocent
We are the damned
We were caught in the middle of the madness
Hunted by the lion and the lamb oh, oh
We bring you fantasy
We bring you pain
It's your one great chance for a miracle
Or we will disappear
Never to be seen again
And all the fools sailed away
All the fools sailed away
Sailed away
We bring you beautiful
We teach you sin
We can give you a piece of the universe
Or we will disappear
Never to return again
And all the fools sailed away
All the fools sailed away
All the fools sailed away
They sailed away
Sailed away
And as we drift along
I never fail to be astounded by the things we'll do for promises
And a song
We are the innocent
We cut we bleed
We're your one great chance for a miracle
And a miracle is something you need
They'll take your diamonds
And then give you steel
You'll be caught in the middle of the madness
Just lost like them
And part of all the pain that they feel, yeah
And all the fools sailed away
All the fools sailed away
All the fools sailed away
Leaving nothing, nothing more to say
All the fools sailed away
They say you're beautiful
And they'll always let you in
But doors are never open
To the child without a trace of sin
Sail away
Lyrics submitted by JudasPriest1977
All The Fools Sailed Away Lyrics as written by Ronnie James Dio Craig Goldie
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
I've been trying to look at the words to this song in various ways over the last couple days. It's been an interesting exercise. I believe that this song is actually about how religion does the opposite to us than what it preaches.
"There's perfect harmony In the rising and the falling of the sea"
These relatively few words are drawing attention to the fact that nature is awesome. The infinite complexities within all it's processes are not only awe inspiring, but beautiful. We are a product of and are part of nature at the same time. Nature is our creator.
Up until the first chorus the song basically covers the idea that we are imperfect, both bad and good at the same time. We are self aware and have to deal with the idea of dying and what happens after, therefore, the promise of eternal life is very appealing.
"We are the innocent, We are the damned" - we are imperfect
"one great chance for a miracle, or we will disappear"- we are drawn to embracing religion in order to ensure eternal life in heaven.
The chorus, basically a repitition of the title "All the fools sailed away" represents people that have embraced religion and accepted the bible as the word of god and how we should live. "Sailing away" here ties into the first line of the song that also dealt with the ocean. The "ocean" is actually nature and "sailing away" is indicating that while we are still surrounded by nature and in contact with it constantly, we are now going to expend time and energy studying the bible (sailing away) for answers to life. "Sailing away" also represents the obscuring of the signifigance and majestry of nature by focusing on religion.
"They'll take your diamonds And then give you steel"
The obvious reference to the line above would be to wars over religion, but I now think this line goes deeper than that. Diamonds are natural and steel is man-made. Religion takes your "diamonds" (puts us above all other creatures) and gives us "steel" (replaces our creator "Nature" with a manmade one, "God") So here we are again enforcing the idea of religion doing the oposite of what its seen as. It removes us from nature by putting us with a man-made creator that has created us in his image, and above all other creatures. Leading us astray from the creator, nature.
"But doors are never open To the child without a trace of sin"
So here we are at the last line of the song, religion will accept us (sinners) with open arms but rejects Jesus (child without a trace of sin)????????
We are the only creatures in nature capable of being "sinners", therefore, the rest of nature can be represented as Jesus (child without a trace of sin) in this last line. Looked at through this interpretation of the song "All the fools sailed away", religion now appears to only accept those capable of evil and rejects those who are inherently good.
Backwards.