"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.
Cath, she stands with a well-intentioned man
But she can't relax with his hands on the small of her back
And as the flash bulbs burst
She holds a smile
Like someone would hold
A crying child
And soon everybody will ask what became of you
'Cause your heart was dying fast
And you didn't know what to do
Cath, it seems
That you live in someone else's dream
In a hand-me-down wedding dress
Where the things that could have been are oppressed
You said your vows
And you closed the door
On so many men
Who would have loved you more
And soon everybody will ask what became of you
And your heart was dying fast
And you didn't know what to do
The whispers that it won't last roll up and down the pews
But if their hearts were dying that fast
They'd have done the same as you
And I'd have done the same as you
But she can't relax with his hands on the small of her back
And as the flash bulbs burst
She holds a smile
Like someone would hold
A crying child
And soon everybody will ask what became of you
'Cause your heart was dying fast
And you didn't know what to do
Cath, it seems
That you live in someone else's dream
In a hand-me-down wedding dress
Where the things that could have been are oppressed
You said your vows
And you closed the door
On so many men
Who would have loved you more
And soon everybody will ask what became of you
And your heart was dying fast
And you didn't know what to do
The whispers that it won't last roll up and down the pews
But if their hearts were dying that fast
They'd have done the same as you
And I'd have done the same as you
Lyrics submitted by Si_duffers, edited by alhirzel
Cath... [Album Version] Lyrics as written by Benjamin Gibbard
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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After listening several times to Cath I ll have to confess that this is one of my favourites on the new album. I can relate a little to a company calls epilogue, because it is about a collapsed relationship that has failed years ago. She bound to a men she's not truly loving but she cannot get out of the relationship because she doesn't know what she wants else. So she's kind of a "dead" living person with no private perspective. He still adores her, because I think he is one of the guys who have loved her more, but the last line shows that he can understand the decision she made. Despite that, I think he has won a more distant look at her over the years, he still cares about her.
Well, for me the first stanza is a photoshooting at a professional photograph. She plays her role, smiles for the picture and the man on her side is a husband making an official family portrait picture. The song continues that this couple has no future anymore, so the people will ask "what became of you" - maybe a question the storyteller of this song was asked years ago in a similar situation.
The second verse clearly shows that she lives in a preowned world that she never wanted to have, but she's forced to accept the current conditions of her life. She's unhappy, but still blocks options of the past to pull her out, because she doesn't know what she wants, even when one (or more) men still show some affection for her.
KisstheRain1980, I love it! <br /> <br /> I like your suggestion that this song is about a relationship that failed, one that collapsed years ago. I didn't have that vibe when I first got this album, but I think it fits well. <br /> <br /> Also, your suggestion that she is a 'dead' living person, one who has lost any private perspective- is a great one.<br /> <br /> This was my favorite song on the new album initially. But I was convinced that 'Cath' was a depressed person. Someone who had given up on romantic endeavors some time ago. I pictured her 'flashbulbs bursting' next to someone she'd known for a long time. Someone who kind of came out of the woodwork and made it his endeavor to marry Cath. <br /> <br /> A well intentioned man. I think of him as a bit of a second-stringer if you will? Haha. I like the swaying chaos in the music during the first verse. I think it gives feeling to Cath kind of being at mercy of her new marriage, this guy.. she's clearly emotionally removed.<br /> <br /> And I think its the last line that gives me that feeling... 'and if their hearts were dying hat fast, they would have done the same as you... i would have done the same as you'<br /> <br /> Draws in to question the storyteller's relationship to Cath, or just his perspective.<br /> <br /> Thanks for your insight!
I'm really upset that no one here has gotten the obvious reference that Ben Gibbard has ingeniously alluded to throughout this song! "Cath" does not allude to catheters, (I couldn't stop laughing when I read this) but rather to Catherine Morland. Catherine Morland is the protagonist of Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, its about a girl who gets married to a dreadful man and turns her back on so many men that would have loved her more. The reference is so direct that I'm surprised no one has mentioned it yet here. Its a good read, probably one of Austen's best, but then again, I am a guy and Victorian novels are brutal. To really understand all the undertones and allusions of the lyrics you should at least give the wikipedia page of Northanger Abbey a look. And for goodness sake, don't mix up Victorian heroines with catheters!
oboenglishorn:<br /> <br /> What are you talking about?? In Northanger Abbey, Catherine Morland marries Henry Tinley for love... I agree it is an excellent novel, but this song is not a reference to it.<br /> <br /> (The catheter comment was HILARIOUS)
beckyberrypie:<br /> <br /> Oh MY! I totally screwed that up... I meant to say Cath of Wuthering Heights. Thanks for catching my mistake :D. I hate femmenist literature anyways, read Love in the Time of Cholera now lol.