"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.
An apple and a berry plant
Comes with a house
On the grass, who is that
To come by my house
Stands outside my window
Sucking on the berries
And eats us out of house and home
Keeping us awake, keeping us awake
Can I come over, I need to rest
Lay down for a while
Disconnect the night was so long
The day even longer
Lay down for a while recollect
Five a.m. out again
Triangle walks
Magpies, I throw sticks at them
They laugh behind my back
Getting a feeling
Maybe I will dream again
Having that feeling
When there's no one awake
No no one awake
Can I come over, I need to rest
Lay down for a while
Disconnect the night was so long
The day even longer
Lay down for a while recollect
Comes with a house
On the grass, who is that
To come by my house
Stands outside my window
Sucking on the berries
And eats us out of house and home
Keeping us awake, keeping us awake
Can I come over, I need to rest
Lay down for a while
Disconnect the night was so long
The day even longer
Lay down for a while recollect
Five a.m. out again
Triangle walks
Magpies, I throw sticks at them
They laugh behind my back
Getting a feeling
Maybe I will dream again
Having that feeling
When there's no one awake
No no one awake
Can I come over, I need to rest
Lay down for a while
Disconnect the night was so long
The day even longer
Lay down for a while recollect
Lyrics submitted by MaritheGreat
Triangle Walks Lyrics as written by Karin Dreijer Andersson
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Plastic Bag
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Plastic Bag
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“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
I know this song is not about drugs (because Fever Ray was Karin's personal outlet for herself, all the song on the album are about her, her family, and motherhood.) For this song, you can say shes haunted I guess. Heres my breakdown of the song.
"an apple and a berry plant comes with a house on the grass who is that to come by my house
stands outside my window sucking on the berries and eats us out of house and home keeping us awake keeping us awake"
For the first few lines i think shes talking about her home with her family. "An apple and a berry plant/ comes with our house". When she mentions someone standing outside her window I believe shes speaking about herself (and her husband) and the people they could have been if they did not have kids. With children come responsibility and routine. "Triangle" Walks. The things they could have accomplished (whether it be personal goals or not) or other things they could be doing if they did not have kids.
"can i come over, i need to rest lay down for a while disconnect the night was so long the day even longer lay down for a while recollect"
As I mentioned before, having kids is a responsibility. This could be her expressing the constant exhaustion she feels from raising children day in and day out.
"five AM out again triangle walks magpies, i throw sticks at them they laugh behind my back"
Karin mentioned recently in an interview that shes always up very early because of her children. We know that children often wake up parents very early (especially screaming/crying babies) so the 5am line makes sense. When she speaks about Magpies, it could be a metaphor for her friends who don't have children. Her throwing sticks at them could be her expressing her problems she has as a mother and them laughing behind her back could be them not understanding her because they don't know what its like to have children.
"getting a feeling maybe i will dream again having that feeling when there's no one awake no no one awake"
This last part really accents the starting. "Getting a feeling/ maybe i will dream again" is Karin saying that shes thinking about the future, when her children are grown up and what comes for her after that. She feels like maybe she'll have set goals for herself that she couldn't accomplish while she had young children.
Also, notice after she sings the last line she begins to groan. If you noticed, she used the screaming/groaning to accent the song even more (like in I Just Had To Die in The Knife, which is a song about pedophiles and being a young target). I think this is definitely one of the best songs on the album. Another masterpiece by Karin.
THANK YOU! for breaking that down in a way these people can understand. i realize music can and should be interpreted in different ways. but its so obviously about childbearing even if she hadnt actually SAID thats what the album was about
@Encre great interpretation!
To me, this song describes the torment of being haunted by something/someone...not being able to escape the thoughts, even at home, which is supposed to be the one place you can always feel safe. The "I need to rest" lines depict how draining these thoughts and emotions can be, not even allowing you to sleep to get it off your mind for a few hours. "No one awake" describes how lonely it can get.
When Karin sings about something standing outside the window, I was reminded of stories I've read about the old wives' tale that vampires cannot enter your home unless invited. The thing is persistent--it will patiently wait until it gets what it wants. Perhaps it means no relief will come until you give in.
I really have no clue what she means by "triangle walks," but I love the song nonetheless.
WoW, great thought process...this is good....
WoW, great thought process...this is good....
WoW, great thought process...this is good....
WoW, great thought process...this is good....
WoW, great thought process...this is good....
WoW, great thought process...this is good....
probably the song that comes closest to the odd danciness of The Knife, on the album. it's brilliant.
This song is such the best. Even though the lyrics are strange for the most part, I think the chorous is easy to relate to. Plus it's amazingly catchy
sorry, im stoned :)
It is about coping with a new born child.
Well young child anyway..... but that is it I believe.
Hello... somewhat new here. Good interpretations of this excellent song! I had learned from a news article and wiki that Ms Andersson has two children (i.e.; the "feet in the hall" in 'Dry and Dusty'?), but know little else about them. <br /> <br /> I can see where it may be about the stress of child rearing, if not something else entirely. Generally, I thought this song to be about ghosts (as aforementioned above)... the video is rather haunting (and was my intro to Fever Ray). Thanks!<br /> <br /> BTW -- Running in circles/triangle walks... same ideas perhaps, one not so frantic? Going up, down and over things? The title is an interesting and the use of it in the song even more so. Maybe Fever Ray will tell us one day.
I think a bear or something has taken to thrashing around outside her residence and eating berries, she finds herself out again at 4 AM walking somewhat unsteadily, in perhaps a triangular gait, and some douchebags' prissy girlfriends are sassing her for being drunk, so she tells them to fuck off? So after a day like that she wants to hang out at her friend's quiet house and maybe take a nap there.
I think it's dumb and disrespectful to claim that Karin is making winking references to the some drugs she likes to do. That is not what she is about, she is talking about impressionistic scenes from the course of whatever she was doing at a particular time, which is none of your concern and has nothing to do with the song.
As for whether or not The Knife and Fever Ray are encouraging you to get high on everything you can get and listen to their music, I would agree that's somewhat implicit.
thumps up lol
maybe it's about a sleepwalker? her husband? she's tired of going out to look for him every night and she's starting to suffer some insomnia herself...
Im seeing it from an "old lover" point of view. Memories or himself haunting her current "home happy", now boring, life and her yearning to disconnect with him. and the Triangle walk is with the 3 Points of Herself, Her Present, and Her Past... or the whole Family thing and just incorporate these point of views with the family agenda