"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.
What a night for a dance, you know I'm a dancing machine
With the fire in my bones, and the sweet taste of kerosene
I get lost in the light, so high don't wanna come down
To face the loss of the good thing, that I have found
In the dark of the night I can hear you calling my name
With the hardest of hearts I still feel full of pain
So I drink and I smoke and I ask you if your ever around
Even though it was me who drove us right in the ground
See the time we shared it was precious to me
But all the while I was dreaming of revelry
Gonna run baby run like a stream down a mountainside
With the wind at my back I won't ever even bat an eye
Just know it was you all along who had a hold of my heart
But the demon in me was the best of friends from the start
So the time we shared it was precious to me
All the while I was dreaming of revelry
Dreaming of revelry
And I told myself for the way you go, it rained so hard it felt like snow
Everything came tumbling down on me
In the back of the woods in the dark of the night
Palest of the old moonlight
Everything just felt so incomplete
Dreaming of revelry
Dreaming of revelry
Dreaming of revelry
Dreaming of revelry
With the fire in my bones, and the sweet taste of kerosene
I get lost in the light, so high don't wanna come down
To face the loss of the good thing, that I have found
In the dark of the night I can hear you calling my name
With the hardest of hearts I still feel full of pain
So I drink and I smoke and I ask you if your ever around
Even though it was me who drove us right in the ground
See the time we shared it was precious to me
But all the while I was dreaming of revelry
Gonna run baby run like a stream down a mountainside
With the wind at my back I won't ever even bat an eye
Just know it was you all along who had a hold of my heart
But the demon in me was the best of friends from the start
So the time we shared it was precious to me
All the while I was dreaming of revelry
Dreaming of revelry
And I told myself for the way you go, it rained so hard it felt like snow
Everything came tumbling down on me
In the back of the woods in the dark of the night
Palest of the old moonlight
Everything just felt so incomplete
Dreaming of revelry
Dreaming of revelry
Dreaming of revelry
Dreaming of revelry
Lyrics submitted by secondary spine
Revelry Lyrics as written by Jared Followill Caleb Followill
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I heard this song for the first time a few weeks ago. This song perfectly describes where I'm at in life right now. My boyfriend and I, or I guess ex-boyfriend now, were together for years and though we had our ups and downs I know we truly loved each other. We broke up right before Christmas due to my hard partying and other problems that had been going on for a while with both of us. We still continued on as though we were still in a relationship without the actual commitment and a couple weeks ago he told me he missed me and wanted to start over, to get back together. I said I couldn't be with him anymore and essentially cut off communication with him.
I thought I was doing the right thing, I didn't want to hurt him anymore and I didn't think I was strong enough or maybe wanted enough to change my lifestyle. I miss him every day and I know I'll never truly stop loving him. At first, I felt relieved and free without him, but as time goes on I miss him more and more and I'm starting to think maybe I made a big mistake.
This song is about a guy who was in a relationship with a really great girl and he tried to be the "nice, good guy" she deserved and wanted and knew he could be. But for one reason or another he didn't think he could live up to the responsibilities of being in a committed, loving relationship, he made selfish choices and hurt her. So basically as a result of his lifestyle choices, i.e. partying, he lost her.
This song is about the aftermath of the aftermath of the ending of a relationship with someone you truly loved. What you go through when you start to realize and admit to yourself after a period of self-denial that you made a big mistake and lost the most important person in your life as a result of your own immaturity and issues. He knows it was his fault and when he thinks about her he realizes how much he loved and still loves her, but it's too excruciating to face the reality and the pain of losing his lover so he tries to hold onto the "revelry" he has been trying to escape within for as long as he's been broken up with her.
But in the end, in the last verse he finally realizes he can't run from reality and his pain and he talks about the loneliness and sadness and regret he feels now that it's over. He thought ending things would be for the best for both of them, and at first he enjoyed being single and having fun, but gradually he realized this new life full of revelry was unsatisfying and left him empty.
Sad, beautiful song. If you've ever been truly in love and you know it ended because you screwed it up, this song is exactly how you feel when it's over.
I couldn't have put it better myself. Talk about hitting the nail on the head huh...