"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 he is on the top of a mount
Sharing biscuits with his dog
Meaning he in the general sense of the word,
As he is all of us here.
And his dog asks him why he's alone,
He replies, Well, I'm with my friend.
Or are you leaving me to join in the blur?
'Cause I don't need you around.
Palomar,
What's wrong? Where'd your dog go?
Well, he's gone for fresh meat and supplies.
'Cause he's done this before.
He arrives in town an hour later,
As he's much quicker on four legs than Pal is on two.
He takes his usual spot out back of the butcher shop,
Waiting patiently for closing time.
Meanwhile back on the mount,
Palomar is cleaning his lenses with saline waters.
He reassembles his kaleidoscope,
And waits patiently for dog.
Palomar,
Why not... take this chance
To reflect on things that you done did
And make it better?
Why don't you just try without asking why?
What could be better than a room with a view
And a lovely little doggie to share it with?
When he gets back we will share in our meat.
There's always something good to eat.
Mmmm
So let's leave him alone in his observatory,
Rejoin the little dog in our story.
He's run off with some cur who's bearing his pups.
That's the last of his tale.
Palomar,
What's wrong? Where'd your dog go?
Well, he's gone for good,
And that goes to show you
That love is thicker than brains in a man
Or a dog.
It's the same thing.
Sharing biscuits with his dog
Meaning he in the general sense of the word,
As he is all of us here.
And his dog asks him why he's alone,
He replies, Well, I'm with my friend.
Or are you leaving me to join in the blur?
'Cause I don't need you around.
Palomar,
What's wrong? Where'd your dog go?
Well, he's gone for fresh meat and supplies.
'Cause he's done this before.
He arrives in town an hour later,
As he's much quicker on four legs than Pal is on two.
He takes his usual spot out back of the butcher shop,
Waiting patiently for closing time.
Meanwhile back on the mount,
Palomar is cleaning his lenses with saline waters.
He reassembles his kaleidoscope,
And waits patiently for dog.
Palomar,
Why not... take this chance
To reflect on things that you done did
And make it better?
Why don't you just try without asking why?
What could be better than a room with a view
And a lovely little doggie to share it with?
When he gets back we will share in our meat.
There's always something good to eat.
Mmmm
So let's leave him alone in his observatory,
Rejoin the little dog in our story.
He's run off with some cur who's bearing his pups.
That's the last of his tale.
Palomar,
What's wrong? Where'd your dog go?
Well, he's gone for good,
And that goes to show you
That love is thicker than brains in a man
Or a dog.
It's the same thing.
Lyrics submitted by MixedUpConfusion
Palomar Lyrics as written by Dave August Bidini Dave Clark
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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“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.
Palomar is also the name of an observatory in California, that sits atop Palomar Mountain. Many of the lines suggest that Palomar lives in a solitary life in a similar observatory on a mountain, enjoying his "room with a view". He sends his dog to gather food because he is avoiding human contact or contact with strangers.
I think this is simply a story about a man who thinks his life is great, but then something unexpected happens that changes it. The unexpected this is his dog running away. The line about reflecting on things and making it better suggests to me that, even though Palomar feels content with his life, he should examine it more closely, and may realize some things are less perfect than he thought. It might be a chance to take a risk in finding a better life, like his dog does in the end.