"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.
She is an emerald
In a shining, shining winter
Rosette in a snow globe
Ride it up, clean and gold
I spread love
She is anticipating on it
Magic and old invention
Leanin' out the window
Callin' out, woah no
She sees what no one sees
Far away, with you
While every need, and water blue
We'll sail away, on this boat
Till suddenly it's new
Who made loss or whatever alone?
I know I cannot wait that long
I don't know what I should be lookin' at
But I will look wherever I'm told
Bitte orca, orca bitte
Bitte orca, orca bitte
Bitte orca, orca bitte
Bitte orca, orca bitte
Bitte orca, orca bitte
Bitte orca, orca bitte
I'm caught up in a storm
That I don't need no shelter from
All I want and all I need
Right here with me
You're right here with me
Call to me, soft and sweet
Cool the fire that burns in me
Catch me when I lose control
Look into my eyes
Look into my eyes
I'm caught up in a storm
Bitte orca, orca bitte
Bitte orca, orca bitte
Bitte orca, orca bitte
Bitte orca, orca bitte
Bitte orca, orca bitte
Bitte orca, orca bitte
In a shining, shining winter
Rosette in a snow globe
Ride it up, clean and gold
I spread love
She is anticipating on it
Magic and old invention
Leanin' out the window
Callin' out, woah no
She sees what no one sees
Far away, with you
While every need, and water blue
We'll sail away, on this boat
Till suddenly it's new
Who made loss or whatever alone?
I know I cannot wait that long
I don't know what I should be lookin' at
But I will look wherever I'm told
Bitte orca, orca bitte
Bitte orca, orca bitte
Bitte orca, orca bitte
Bitte orca, orca bitte
Bitte orca, orca bitte
Bitte orca, orca bitte
I'm caught up in a storm
That I don't need no shelter from
All I want and all I need
Right here with me
You're right here with me
Call to me, soft and sweet
Cool the fire that burns in me
Catch me when I lose control
Look into my eyes
Look into my eyes
I'm caught up in a storm
Bitte orca, orca bitte
Bitte orca, orca bitte
Bitte orca, orca bitte
Bitte orca, orca bitte
Bitte orca, orca bitte
Bitte orca, orca bitte
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Fast Car
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This sounds like a love song. And, I gotta say, it's my kind of love song.
I don't mean to come off immature, but considering how crazy some of the lyrics in the Dirty Projector's songs tend to be, I was wondering if there was any relevance. I'm assuming not, but I thought it was a funny coincedence nonetheless.
Bitte Orca, Orca Bitte --> B O O B
I thought I was ridiculous and immature for even noticing that, but then I futher noticed the lyrics surrounding it.
I don't know what I should be looking at, but I'll look wherever I'm told Bitte Orca, Orca Bitte Catch me when I lose control, Look into my eyes, I'm caught up in a storm Bitte Orca, Orca Bitte
And the line "Rosette in a snow globe." Well, just look up what a rosette is on wikipedia.
Maybe David Longstreth just wrote a song about boobs. I'm tyring to make sense of the title in this aspect though. Say what you want, it was just a stupid thing I noticed. For the record, this is my favorite album of the year and I hope I haven't ruined the song for anyone.
Useful Chamber - a lady's chamber?<br /> <br /> It's an interesting theory! Maybe it's simply about a whale watching trip. Who knows?
Pitchfork: What does "bitte orca" mean?
Dave Longstreth: The word "bitte" is just a German word for "please," and "orca" is the carnivorous whale
pitchfork.com/features/interviews/7665-dirty-projectors/
the last minute of this song is the best thing i've heard in awhile. the first five that come before help put everything together.
bitte means ask in german
orca means... orca whale?
i think if he actually is saying "whale dick" then it means
she's pretty blah blah etc... oh and by the way i have a GIANT BONER too
Craigfindler's and terroristscum's interpretation was much more interesting than Russe's find.
Just sayin'!
Dave Longstreth supposedly named the album 'Bitte Orca' because he liked the way the words sounded next to eachother. nothing more. sorry for all you addicts out there; not every song has to do with sex........
and on a completely unrelated note, the intro to this song is golden
When a songwriter or lyricist picks words simply because they sound well together, one has to wonder if at some subconscious level the artist intuitively connects to some latent meaning in the words or sounds of the words. <br /> <br /> "Bitte" has been used in French, German, and old Norse. In German it's a polite word, a word of supplication. This song has a few lines of pleading: Call to me, soft and sweet / Cool the fire that burns in me /Catch me when I lose control. So there's that possible connection.<br /> In French "bitte" can also stand for a mooring post (probably this is what led to its use as a slang term for a penis). The image of a mooring post could connect with the idea expressed in the song that the the person wants and needs their love object rather than refuge from the storm. That is, one's love or the object of one's love serves instead of a mooring post. <br /> <br /> Orca is of course the name of the whale, but the sound "ork" or "orc" (as in orca, orcinus, orc-neas, orch) is associated with death, the underword, monsters from the underworld in various historic European languages, and was assigned to the whale because of the assocation between "orcus" and "killing" or "death." Killer whales can be vicious preditors of other sea mammals. At the archetype level the fusion of the opposites of love and death, or love and killing, is often made. One kills one's ego and replaces it with devotion to one's love object, or one participates in the cycle of aging and death to make room for new life in one's descendants. <br /> <br /> Doubt any of this was consciously in mind when bitte and orca were combined in this song, but knowing the historical roots and some deep meaning-structures of these words only adds to the beauty of the song for this listener.
has anyone else noticed the similarity between this song's structure with radiohead's paranoid android? both great songs
bitte is a french slang term for penis, and 'dirty projector' is a canadian slang term for penis...so there's a pretty good chance the refain Sylvania's love song is 'whale penis.'
The french slang for penis is pronounced "beet", I believe.