"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 don't know how to fall down the stairs
I don't know how to fall down the stairs
without hurting myself
I don't know how to fall down the stairs
without skinning my knees and bruising my elbows
twisting my ankles and bending my wrists back
and I don't know how to fall down the stairs
I don't know how to fall down the stairs
even if I don't want
I don't know how to fall down the stairs
but something inside me lets go of the banister
tumbling I tumble down towards the corridor
people rush in clasping their mouths real tight
in case of emergency contact my blood type is
AB(x3)
My blood type's AB and AB it'll be for a while(x3)
but I don't know how to fall down the stairs
without breaking the wall
I don't know how to fall down the stairs
without breaking the wall with my fall
I don't know without breaking the wall
cause my head rolls so quickly and with such precision
I can't help but making a big round incision
left near the bookshelf by that book on division
in case of emergency contact my parents, my blood type is
AB(x7)
My blood type's AB and AB it'll be for a while(x5)
My blood type's AB and AB it has been
and AB it'll stay for a while for a while
My blood type's AB and AB it has been
and AB it'll stay for a while for a while
My blood type's AB and AB it has been
and AB it'll stay for a while for a while
My blood type's AB and in case of emergency, smile.
I don't know how to fall down the stairs
without hurting myself
I don't know how to fall down the stairs
without skinning my knees and bruising my elbows
twisting my ankles and bending my wrists back
and I don't know how to fall down the stairs
I don't know how to fall down the stairs
even if I don't want
I don't know how to fall down the stairs
but something inside me lets go of the banister
tumbling I tumble down towards the corridor
people rush in clasping their mouths real tight
in case of emergency contact my blood type is
AB(x3)
My blood type's AB and AB it'll be for a while(x3)
but I don't know how to fall down the stairs
without breaking the wall
I don't know how to fall down the stairs
without breaking the wall with my fall
I don't know without breaking the wall
cause my head rolls so quickly and with such precision
I can't help but making a big round incision
left near the bookshelf by that book on division
in case of emergency contact my parents, my blood type is
AB(x7)
My blood type's AB and AB it'll be for a while(x5)
My blood type's AB and AB it has been
and AB it'll stay for a while for a while
My blood type's AB and AB it has been
and AB it'll stay for a while for a while
My blood type's AB and AB it has been
and AB it'll stay for a while for a while
My blood type's AB and in case of emergency, smile.
Lyrics submitted by Risika
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
This is my first song comment wish me luck =).
To me this song demonstrates a conflict with the main character whether that’s representative of Regina herself or just a construct. The main character wants so badly to just let go and loose control which is represented in the figurative image of "[falling] down the stairs" and "[letting] go of the banister" but finds that she over thinks things which is evident in the fact that she thinks about leaving her blood group AB "in case of emergency contact". This may signify Regina's need to write and perform which involves letting go and expressing her emotions but her finding it difficult due to being to self conscious and to concerned with how other people may react "clasping their mouths real tight". Alternatively it could reflect how the main character has a destructive part of her personality which she feels the desire to express but finds that she doesn’t know how to do so in a productive way "without hurting [herself]" and other people.
I think there is allot more to this song but I am feeling a little lazy, so people please add some more alternative comments.
"cause my head rolls so quickly and with such precision I can't help but making a big round incision left near the bookshelf by that book on division"
I love that part.
I think this song is really adorable. It's so upbeat and weird that I can't help loving it.
this is such a great song.... i think the stairs are such a great metaphor for anything in anyones life that is bitter sweet. stairs, without them we would be stuck growing out instead of up, but with them there is always risk of getting hurt.
i'm agree with envirohodges
i love this song!!!!! i love all regina spektor songs!
Does this mean I've finally found someone as clumsy as I am? This sounds just like me!
maybe she paranoid and needed everyone to know that her blood type really is AB!
ohhhh!! I get it now!
lucky duck; she's the universal recipient.
'My blood type's AB and in case of emergency, smile.'
i love that line.
the piano intro kinda reminds me of dusseldorf