"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.
Go!
Breathe... easy.
Your hands will remain empty when you have stopped clutching at straws.
Cling to bad memories, forget all the insufferable bores.
No-one matters.
No-one cares.
He whispered,
"oh my god this really is a joy to behold".
I hough he said "it's a joy to be held" so I held him too close.
It was a grave mistake, he never came back again.
I'm not saying there's good in none of this
Miserabilia to show the kids.
I'm not saying that you're responsible.
Miserable, for one, for all.
I've spend too much time on my knees next to
urinals in garish Mexican restaurants,
sobbing into my worn pale palms for a better understanding
of my dietary requirements.
I've cried on ashen floors of working men's clubs
96, 98, 2000, 2002, 2004.
Oh my god, will it end?
We got nostalgic ended up filling shoe boxes with vomit,
collected scabs in lockets, hung them round our necks like nooses.
None of it mattered.
Nobody cared.
I'm not saying there's good in none of this
Miserabilia to show the kids.
I'm not saying that you're responsible.
Miserable, for one, for all.
I have broken down into the naked breasts of a newly ex (no dignity),
I can only guess that she thinks about it when she touches herself.
Shout at the world because the world doesn't love you.
Lower yourself because you know that you'll have to.
Breathe... easy.
Your hands will remain empty when you have stopped clutching at straws.
Cling to bad memories, forget all the insufferable bores.
No-one matters.
No-one cares.
He whispered,
"oh my god this really is a joy to behold".
I hough he said "it's a joy to be held" so I held him too close.
It was a grave mistake, he never came back again.
I'm not saying there's good in none of this
Miserabilia to show the kids.
I'm not saying that you're responsible.
Miserable, for one, for all.
I've spend too much time on my knees next to
urinals in garish Mexican restaurants,
sobbing into my worn pale palms for a better understanding
of my dietary requirements.
I've cried on ashen floors of working men's clubs
96, 98, 2000, 2002, 2004.
Oh my god, will it end?
We got nostalgic ended up filling shoe boxes with vomit,
collected scabs in lockets, hung them round our necks like nooses.
None of it mattered.
Nobody cared.
I'm not saying there's good in none of this
Miserabilia to show the kids.
I'm not saying that you're responsible.
Miserable, for one, for all.
I have broken down into the naked breasts of a newly ex (no dignity),
I can only guess that she thinks about it when she touches herself.
Shout at the world because the world doesn't love you.
Lower yourself because you know that you'll have to.
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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It's 'I've spent all my time on my knees', not moves.
"Sobbing into my warm pale palms For a better understanding of her dietary requirements"
What exactly does "sobbing into my warm pale palms for a better understanding of her dietary requirements" mean?! I mean REALLY?!
I'm under the impression Gareth is a vegan. I assumed it was the unhappy result of someone giving him dairy products (pretty likely in a Mexican restaurant).
"I've spend too much time on my knees next to urinals in garish Mexican restaurants<br /> Sobbing into my warm, pale palms for a better understanding of my dietary requirements"<br /> <br /> She's obviously been giving guys oral sex in restaurants. It's commonly noted that if you're on your knees in a men's restroom, that's what you're doing. The bit about her dietary requirements is in reference to her swallowing the semen. It's mostly protein so.. yeah. So either he's been in there, replicating what she's been doing to try to understand (aka also giving head) or he's just been in there, sans giving head, trying to figure out why she's been doing that. Both result in him crying into his hands.
When I first saw the lyrics, I figured that the speaker in the song was vomiting into a urinal, and the part about dietary requirements was the speaker looking at what they'd eaten and crying.
I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere that it is supposed to be suggestive (like Intelligente's interpretation) but it is actually in reference to what gothicarchie had guessed. So you are all right in a way.
is it not "'96, '98, 2000, 2002, 2004..."
just what i hear...
Official lyrics from the booklet:
Your hands will remain empty when you have stopped clutching at straws Cling to bad memories, forget all the insufferable bores. No-one matters No-one cares
He whispered "oh my god this really is a joy to behold" I thought he said "it's a joy to be held" so I held him too close It was a grave mistake, he never came back again
I'm not saying there's good in none of this Miserabilia to show the kids I'm not saying that you're responsible Miserable, for one, for all
I've spent too much time on my knees next to urinals in garish Mexican restaurants, sobbing into my worn pale palms for a better understanding of my dietary requirements
I've cried on ashen floors of working men's clubs 96, 98, 200, 2002, 2004 Oh my god, will it end?
We got nostalgic ended up filling shoe boxes with vomit, collected scabs in lockets, hung them round our necks like nooses None of it mattered Nobody cares
I have broken down into the naked breasts of a newly ex (no dignity), I can only guess that she thinks about it when she touches herself
Shout at the world because the world doesn't love you Lower yourself because you know that you'll have to
This is an amazing song, but I have yet to sort through the probably dozen meanings of it. xD
To me, this song is about saving up all the little things that remind you of your girlfriend/boyfriend and then going through it all after the break up. This is a fairly straightforward interpretation i know, but that what I like about these guys, everything is out up front. Miserabilia being a portmanteau of miserable and memorabilia, obviously.
"I've cried on ashen floors of working men's clubs 96, 98, 2000, 2002, 2004 Oh my god, will it end?"
england defeats in major football tournaments! gareth's a massive football fanatic, used to post about the band on a football forum i was on back in 2005 when LC! started.
that's just that part, the theme is self-explanatory.
I think it basically means that all of what we collect in our life and cherish as "memorabilia" is ultimately just physical markers of bad memories and experiences, hence it being 'miserabilia'. We may see them as important and impactful, these moments, and they might well be but in the end it sucks and it hurts and such is life. ( "None of it mattered, Nobody cares" )
"Your hands will remain empty when you have stopped clutching at straws Cling to bad memories, forget all the insufferable bores." It doesn't matter if you hold onto to tangible representations of these shitty memories because whether you do or you don't, you're empty handed either way. You gain nothing.
"I'm not saying there's good in none of this Miserabilia to show the kids" The song isn't condemning the collection of these kind of sad trophies, it's only natural that we do it, but in the end just about the only benefit it'll serve is maybe to further illustrate these stories if you choose to tell them to your friends or kids.
Most of the song is illustrating memories which might lead you to collect 'miserabilia' such as loving someone too much and scaring them away, getting cheated on, and your favourite team losing (if datewithikea is right.). As well as further explaining the real nature of the things we collect ( "scabs in lockets, hung them round our necks like nooses" ).
It must also be said that 'miserabilia' and the stuff we collect isn't limited to physical things but memories as well.
"I've cried on ashen floors of working men's clubs 96, 98, 2000, 2002, 2004 Oh my god, will it end?"
england defeats in major football tournaments!"
A Welsh England supporter? Seems unlikely.
A lot of these lyrics don't exactly seem to pertain to the others, but it's brilliant nonetheless; sacrificing clarity for a nice rhyme/play on words is usually worthwhile in my opinion.
he's English, they met at Cardiff Uni, yet none are actually Welsh.