"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're not here tonight
But I trust that
You are safe and tight
So I can sleep fast
The moon was at your side
It just hit, the
Sun is paralyzed
But I'm a savior
Let me at him
I can fix it
Just a quick one
Nothing to it
Just like Tina
Gypsy queen did
I can bring you
Back to life, kid
Waking with a start
I remember
Where you really are
And how you got there
Sight is all you've got
So I’ll watch you
Translate every thought
And I’ll scream for you
Shut the beds off
Here's the password
Dance around the dark
Don't answer
Cuff(?) the masses
Stuff their mouths full
Make them see
It is so simple
Who made all this mess?
I did, I did
Are you safe to touch?
Or will you hurt me?
There's no more to ask
You are dreaming
But until you're back
I’ll keep screaming
Shut the beds off
Here's the password
Dance around the dark
Don't answer
Cuff(?) the masses
Stuff their mouths full
Make them learn it by example
Tie the nurses to the doctors
make them have to see each other
They will fall in love completely
It's amazing, call me crazy
One look away and you're dead
We are so weak in the end
When you are able to breathe
I think that I’ll still believe
Love comes in moments like these
Love comes in moments like these
But I trust that
You are safe and tight
So I can sleep fast
The moon was at your side
It just hit, the
Sun is paralyzed
But I'm a savior
Let me at him
I can fix it
Just a quick one
Nothing to it
Just like Tina
Gypsy queen did
I can bring you
Back to life, kid
Waking with a start
I remember
Where you really are
And how you got there
Sight is all you've got
So I’ll watch you
Translate every thought
And I’ll scream for you
Shut the beds off
Here's the password
Dance around the dark
Don't answer
Cuff(?) the masses
Stuff their mouths full
Make them see
It is so simple
Who made all this mess?
I did, I did
Are you safe to touch?
Or will you hurt me?
There's no more to ask
You are dreaming
But until you're back
I’ll keep screaming
Shut the beds off
Here's the password
Dance around the dark
Don't answer
Cuff(?) the masses
Stuff their mouths full
Make them learn it by example
Tie the nurses to the doctors
make them have to see each other
They will fall in love completely
It's amazing, call me crazy
One look away and you're dead
We are so weak in the end
When you are able to breathe
I think that I’ll still believe
Love comes in moments like these
Love comes in moments like these
Lyrics submitted by Echooo7
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This song has an important message: don't take the people you love for granted. They might be with you now, but "one look away and you're dead". If you tie the nurses to the doctors, they'll be forced to love and value each other. This is what the narrator wants. She wants the world to learn from her loss.
This has to be one of Amanda's best songs. It's actually called "Boyfriend in a Coma".
I think. Well, isn't bureaucracy/different viewpoints blamed for the sluggish pace at which the world's problems have been dealt with? Like a boyfriend in a coma, with the current health care crisis. This song, to me, is about vigilantism---doing something while other people idle away because they are afraid of screwing up. Amanda dreams of a simple solution---she can jolt the boyfriend back to life with "true love's kiss", despite what the masses may say.
Tying the nurses to the doctors is a symbolic wakeup call to the incompetency of conventional health care, the usual way how physical & emotional are usually dealt with.
I wonder if this song is inspired by a book called The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson, probably not because its a recent release, but this song describes this book completely. And I strongly recommend anyone go get it...
Wrong title! it's BOYFRIEND IN A COMA
This really feels like literally trying to do something when someone is in the hospital for serious surgery or in a coma. most of the lyrics really hit home about that. Then again, there is probably a second layer to this cake of a song as there always is ^^
Oh, and the title of this song is also probably a reference to The Smiths' song "Girlfriend in a Coma".
There is a story in the newsletter than Amanda wrote this for her boyfriend, circa 2004, when he had locked-in syndrome (or something similiar --- he seems to have recovered) and could only communicate by blinking (much like Jean-Dominique Bauby). I agree --- this is very much about not taking the people you love for granted.
The 2004 live version has different verses, accomodating an instrumental:
"Waking with a start I remember Where you really are And how you got there
I took both your arms And your eyes fell Straight into my heart And out the other---"
"Did I say too much? Are you angry? Are you safe to touch? Or will you hurt me?"
[instrumental]
"Who made all this mess? I did I did I'll come back at ten And kiss your eyelids
There's no more to ask..."
On her website she posted other song demos in which she originally wanted to use on WKAP with a little description as to the meaning, memory, or other tidbit about it. This is what she said about it:
i think this song would have been great on the record, but it slid down the list quickly. but as far as good demos go, i think this is one of the best. i wrote this one in the winter of 2003-4 when my (fairly new) boyfriend was in the hospital for a few months, paralyzed by a crazy syndrome that left him, for days, unable to move anything but his eyes. i wrote it and recorded it live the same week (the only time i'd played it live, until recently at the boston show in november) at a little gallery called the zeitgeist in cambridge. i took the recording to the hospital the next day and put the headphones on him so he could listen. he couldn't answer with words, but his tears did the job.
You can find this song and direct quote at : amandapalmer.bandcamp.com/track/boyfriend-in-a-coma
I haven't heard the song yet, but it caught my attention because of how much it reminded me of "Girlfriend in a Coma" by The Smiths.