"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.
My teeth taste funny today...they seem more jagged than normal.
I've been told that I have been grinding them like the gears during my dream hours...
I wonder if it's just my thoughts fusing into one frequent dream...
One which parts with the night.
(There are frequent amongst the walking crawlers).
I saw them dragging the other day.
Scraping their knees and elbows against the bumpy pavement.
Blood tracks have been filling the streets.
Seems the high horse is taking them all home...
I can't leave myself out.
Why should we sleep today...
why should we awake tomorrow?
We can just pop back a few and drift though this pre-programmed flight.
Across all oceans...a windy, noisy trek...
this seems to be what I've needed.
The view used to be better...lands are growing into one.
We wanted it this way. We were brought up to grow into one.
I'm going to fly up soon and seek other lands. The soothing air of flight...
a bird's eye view into what I've always imagined life could be.
Will it be sought after?
It might just be useless writing and ideas that laziness will corrupt in the end.
Bones of dust need hardening. I think the prescription is found.
Sleep on...fly on.
In your mind, you can fly.
My teeth grin oddly today...
they seem to gleam more than normal.
Maybe it will be noticed.
(That's all we ever asked for. Grinning through it all......)
(In the corner the thinker things: I seem more jagged than normal.
I am the episode of constant wandering.
A nomad in my own surroundings...this hand produces the nerve.)
Walking dead.
I've been told that I have been grinding them like the gears during my dream hours...
I wonder if it's just my thoughts fusing into one frequent dream...
One which parts with the night.
(There are frequent amongst the walking crawlers).
I saw them dragging the other day.
Scraping their knees and elbows against the bumpy pavement.
Blood tracks have been filling the streets.
Seems the high horse is taking them all home...
I can't leave myself out.
Why should we sleep today...
why should we awake tomorrow?
We can just pop back a few and drift though this pre-programmed flight.
Across all oceans...a windy, noisy trek...
this seems to be what I've needed.
The view used to be better...lands are growing into one.
We wanted it this way. We were brought up to grow into one.
I'm going to fly up soon and seek other lands. The soothing air of flight...
a bird's eye view into what I've always imagined life could be.
Will it be sought after?
It might just be useless writing and ideas that laziness will corrupt in the end.
Bones of dust need hardening. I think the prescription is found.
Sleep on...fly on.
In your mind, you can fly.
My teeth grin oddly today...
they seem to gleam more than normal.
Maybe it will be noticed.
(That's all we ever asked for. Grinning through it all......)
(In the corner the thinker things: I seem more jagged than normal.
I am the episode of constant wandering.
A nomad in my own surroundings...this hand produces the nerve.)
Walking dead.
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Fast Car
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Punchline
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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.
"I wrote this song in an airport. When I listen to music on my headphones, I like to watch the world work and think about what every single person is doing that day. This song is about each one of us creating our own itinerary and flying through our life on one big vacation. Trying to find happiness, perfection, and love.
It’s a “bloody, bumpy” road for most, and others it’s a wonderful journey. We fly away from our problems and towards our solutions (at least what we think are our solutions). We are the ants of the sky...aka the walking dead." -Tommy
'this song is the meat and potatos of colors'
this of course making viridian the gravy, and white walls the chocolate cake at the end
this song is the meat and potatos of colors
if you listen carefully, on the Colors: Live DVD, Tommy says "seems the high horse is taking -YOU- all home..." instead of "them". Wonder if it was intentional or maybe a Freudian slip...
I think the title signifies our smallness in a world so big, all seeking to find our greatest potential.
"Why should we sleep today... Why should we awake tomorrow? we can just pop back a few and drift through this pre-programmed flight."
This signifies the questions we all ask ourselves at times: why am I here, what is my purpose, why should I wake up tomorrow morning? when some feel that life is fate and their destiny is alrealdy determined, they are just pieces on the chess board.
This part makes me think the song is describing two different types of people:
"My teeth grin oddly today... They seem to gleam more than normal Maybe it will be noticed (That's all we ever asked for. Grinning through it all........)"
The above meaning that even though life is a difficult journey, "Grinning through it all," or making the best of what we have is what some choose to do. And all in all their wishes are that someone will notice and acknowledge that positivity on life.
"(In the other corner the thinker thinks: I seem more jagged than normal I am the episode of constant wandering A nomad in my own surroundings... this hand produces the nerve). Walking dead. "
This represents someone that grimaces through life, negative, wandering, and never actively seeking that which could make them happy, and are ultimately "walking dead" because they have no dreams, no efforts to seek their true happiness.
Amazing song, the music is astounding, even before reading the lyrics and even moreso after.
The hoedown is the single greatest section of any song, ever. XD
'Seems the high horse is taking them all home... I can't leave myself out' Is the best part of the song And with every song you can tell their influences are Pink Floyd
I also see a lot of subtle references to dependence, i.e., dependence on medications as answers to the problem. There's such a huge trend in this country to "pop back a few" and let someone tell us that the only way to cure ourselves is through the next big drug.
This song and CD is absolutely mind blowing. One of the most talented bands to date. For sure.
I have to say, I think the bluegrass break near the end of the song might be one of my favorite parts of any BtBaM songs.