"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.
You drag your tiger's paw across
Your chapped and cracking lips
And open up a crimson slur
You spread each time you kiss
The broken boy you bargain with
To turn back to the man
That you fell in love with once
But never saw again
Is he in there? Do you think he drowned to death?
Well it's his decision to show his face again
You grind your tired teeth
And curse the day that you were born
To a sunken line of Irish wives a million miles long
Devoted to the suffering they're certain they deserve
A husband's a cross to bear
Worry lines and a silver string of hair
Come too early, come to steal your sainted youth
Well it's your decision to stay or else to move
And I'm not a man of faith, no gospel oak for me
But you wear a crucifix to broadcast your beliefs
And the god I've read about can't go where he's not asked to go
So you've got a choice to make
Shut him out, save yourself, or sit and wait
But you're waiting on a man who will not move
So you must move for him and do what he can't do
'Cause it's worth it, that's the one life you can change
And I'm sorry sister, but it has to end this way
Yeah, it's scary sister, but tomorrow's just too late
So stand up sister
There's an albatross to shake
Your chapped and cracking lips
And open up a crimson slur
You spread each time you kiss
The broken boy you bargain with
To turn back to the man
That you fell in love with once
But never saw again
Is he in there? Do you think he drowned to death?
Well it's his decision to show his face again
You grind your tired teeth
And curse the day that you were born
To a sunken line of Irish wives a million miles long
Devoted to the suffering they're certain they deserve
A husband's a cross to bear
Worry lines and a silver string of hair
Come too early, come to steal your sainted youth
Well it's your decision to stay or else to move
And I'm not a man of faith, no gospel oak for me
But you wear a crucifix to broadcast your beliefs
And the god I've read about can't go where he's not asked to go
So you've got a choice to make
Shut him out, save yourself, or sit and wait
But you're waiting on a man who will not move
So you must move for him and do what he can't do
'Cause it's worth it, that's the one life you can change
And I'm sorry sister, but it has to end this way
Yeah, it's scary sister, but tomorrow's just too late
So stand up sister
There's an albatross to shake
Lyrics submitted by techniicolor_girl
Tomorrow's Just Too Late Lyrics as written by Kevin Patrick Devine
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
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Page
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Maybe it's just me, but I swear it sounds like Jesse's singing with him on this one. Which would make the "tiger's paw" a nice allusion to Fork & Knife "tigers in the cage, pacing on our pads".
There are two blurry people in the picture for this song on his myspace. Could be Jesse. Or, you know, I could just be wrong.
yeh he says that in the accompanying blog - "'Tomorrow's Just Too Late' is a rough sketch demo Jess and I did this summer when preparing for this summer's tour with Grace Read". the two demos so far have been mind-blowing
Yeh, I found that today. Thanks, though. It made me grin to know I was right. What's the other demo? Did I miss it somewhere?
i think he means the demo for "it's only your life", which was also on his myspace page for a while
ugh, this song is perfection. did i hear right that this was written about his aunt or something that stayed too long in a bad relationship? whatever the case, this song is truly moving. it can be so difficult, especially for women, to realize when things have gone sour sometimes. if the person i was in a relationship hadn't moved, i know i would've been stuck and it would've been near impossible for me to break it off.
wow, i just adore this.
oh my god the new album is so amazing. and this song is so incredible. the imagery is absolutely amazing: you drag your tiger's paw across your chapped & cracking lips, and open up a crimson slur you spread each time you kiss.
it's the kind of pain/pleasure of staying with her man and being able to kiss him. ugh fantastic.
however, what does the last line about the albatross mean? i don't get it.
Jesse Lacey is backing vocals
I'm not sure how accurate this is concerning the last line in the song. I loved thinking it was something as light-hearted as just a bird hanging around, I pictured a women sitting on a beached area, reflecting, and then the bird bothering her, and her having to move.
BUT- I seriously doubt Kevin would do that- so- I dug a little deeper and this is what I found.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, tells the story of a ship departing and accidently routing off course and ending up in Antarctica. The crew spots an Albatross and follows it out of the area, effectively saving them. Then, one of the mariners shoots the bird, killing it. The crew, thinking the bird brought the wind that saved them, grow angry at the Mariner for killing it, but that subsides when the ship lands in calmed waters. Once in THESE waters, though, the crew blames the Mariner for their thirst, and in punishment make him wear the albatross around his neck (illustrating the burden he must live with for killing it). Soon after, for the next week, many of the crew members die.
The poem goes on, but it kind of loses some of its merit with the rest of the story. I think this section of the poem relates VERY well to the story being told in the song, especially if it is about his aunt who stayed too long in a bad relationship. The albatross would represent the guilt she might feel for leaving him or "killing" the relationship (thus, having to "shake" the albatross- IE getting away from it).
eh. Just a thought.
I always thought the "there's an albatross to shake" line meant that, this man is an albatross, a bird that's gonna fly away and leave. And I always pictured the "shake" line as a shaking hands and saying goodbye sorta deal.
i think KDJLAH was dead on. there is a line in the poem that goes "Ah! Well a-day! What evil looks / Had I from old and young! / Instead of the cross, the albatross / About my neck was hung." i think when kevin says a husband is a cross to bear it references back to this line in the poem. a beautiful song, which i can definitely relate to.