"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.
Pack up your things
Your work here is done
A slave to the beast
No mercy with time
No mercy with time
They bound you with the fire
Then push you into the sun
They want the free land to expire
They want everyone to be numb
The world's drinking from a cup
That no one wants to share
Words from the king
That no one wants to hear
Don't be running late, are you on time today?
Don't be running late, are you on time today?
Don't be running late, are you on time today?
Don't be running late, are you on time today?
Retrench me because of machines
Kids trading roses for guns
Track marks under the sleeve
I can't talk, I need to run
Love's thrown away the ring
Not knowing what to say
Mama won't you say?
It's like you're cut by the blade
Don't be running late, are you on time today?
Don't be running late, are you on time today?
Don't be running late, are you on time today?
Don't be running late, are you on time today?
Don't be running late, are you on time today?
(Don't be running late, don't be running late)
Don't be running late, are you on time today?
(Don't be running late, don't be running late)
Don't be running late, are you on time today?
(Don't be running late, don't be running late)
Don't be running late, are you on time today?
(Don't be running late)
Don't be running late, don't be running late
Don't be running late, don't be running late
Don't be running late, don't be running late
Don't be running late
Your work here is done
A slave to the beast
No mercy with time
No mercy with time
They bound you with the fire
Then push you into the sun
They want the free land to expire
They want everyone to be numb
The world's drinking from a cup
That no one wants to share
Words from the king
That no one wants to hear
Don't be running late, are you on time today?
Don't be running late, are you on time today?
Don't be running late, are you on time today?
Don't be running late, are you on time today?
Retrench me because of machines
Kids trading roses for guns
Track marks under the sleeve
I can't talk, I need to run
Love's thrown away the ring
Not knowing what to say
Mama won't you say?
It's like you're cut by the blade
Don't be running late, are you on time today?
Don't be running late, are you on time today?
Don't be running late, are you on time today?
Don't be running late, are you on time today?
Don't be running late, are you on time today?
(Don't be running late, don't be running late)
Don't be running late, are you on time today?
(Don't be running late, don't be running late)
Don't be running late, are you on time today?
(Don't be running late, don't be running late)
Don't be running late, are you on time today?
(Don't be running late)
Don't be running late, don't be running late
Don't be running late, don't be running late
Don't be running late, don't be running late
Don't be running late
Lyrics submitted by viginti_tres
The Beast Lyrics as written by Julia Stone Angus Stone
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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this song is amazing. effing love it.
i agree with both the above comments. i think the first verse/s is about what _ofSimone said: society, & it's expectations, & what the world is becoming.
the second verse, minus the first two lines, is quite obscure. it could be about heroin, as tonyflow said, but "the beast" could also be society's expectations, the way that the world is becoming (or has already become). maybe the second verse is about angus' views on the situation, he feels he can't do anything about it, he can't take action or bring about change ("i can't talk"), he just wants to get away from it ("i need to run").