"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.
Funny, how you turned red
When I first said
Let's join the dead
Funny, I was driving by
Feeling really high
It made me cry
Wooooohhhhhh...
Ahhhhh...
Funny, there were swastikas
On Santa Monica
Where they were scarred
Funny, that no one said
that you were dead
and painted red
Where do you go when you fall on your face?
It's a place that you never should know
Is there a reason why people should change
And they changin' the way that they go
If I was there with you for long
Would you be singing me this song?
I'm holding on...
Wooooohhhhhh...
Ahhhhh...
Where do you go when you fall on your face?
It's a place that you never should know
Is there a reason why people should change?
And they changin' the way that they go
If I was there with you for long
Would you be singing me this song?
I'm holding on...
Wooooohhhhhh...
Ahhhhh...
Wooooohhhhhh.....
Ahhhhh...
When I first said
Let's join the dead
Funny, I was driving by
Feeling really high
It made me cry
Wooooohhhhhh...
Ahhhhh...
Funny, there were swastikas
On Santa Monica
Where they were scarred
Funny, that no one said
that you were dead
and painted red
Where do you go when you fall on your face?
It's a place that you never should know
Is there a reason why people should change
And they changin' the way that they go
If I was there with you for long
Would you be singing me this song?
I'm holding on...
Wooooohhhhhh...
Ahhhhh...
Where do you go when you fall on your face?
It's a place that you never should know
Is there a reason why people should change?
And they changin' the way that they go
If I was there with you for long
Would you be singing me this song?
I'm holding on...
Wooooohhhhhh...
Ahhhhh...
Wooooohhhhhh.....
Ahhhhh...
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I'm pretty sure this song is about suicide.
"Funny, how you turned red When I first said Let's join the dead"
Turning "red' clearly means bleeding. Him suggesting they die, might be him having suicidal thoughts, but he feels so out of himself that he feels like he's talking to a different person. So he might be referencing dissociation.
"Funny, I was driving by Feeling really high It made me cry"
He's having trouble coping with life. Even drugs aren't helping him.
"Funny, there were swastikas On Santa Monica Where they were scarred"
Can't really get the meaning out of this line.
"Funny, that no one said that you were dead and painted red"
Either he's talking about how no one would care if he died, or he wouldn't care himself if he died.
"Where do you go when you fall on your face? It's a place that you never should know Is there a reason why people should change And they changin' the way that they go"
This is where the idea of this song being about suicide becomes very prominent. He's talking about where do you go when you've hit rock bottom. He's saying how horrible it is. How it changes you every step of the way.
"If I was there with you for long Would you be singing me this song? I'm holding on..."
He might be saying that music is the only thing keeping him alive. That it's all he has left. It's the only thing he has to hold on to.
Just my interpretation.
@Somefag If that helps to know - When he played it live once Daron said it reminded him of his two cousins who were like a brother and sister to him, and he even cried while playing the song.<br /> <br /> Source: youtu.be/KKqpX7arJJo
@Somefag woops broken link<br /> youtube.com/watch