"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.
I found variety
On Nolan's Avenue
Down where the air is thick
As L.A. skies are blue
The water tried to break it down
But it held through
It gave a little for the sake of staying true
We cut ties
We tell lies
We hate change
And we wanna claim where we feel
We take toes
We rake yours
Yeah we dig holes
And we're diggin' right in your fears
We're waking up
We're waking up
And right on time
And right on time
We'll take these roads
We'll break them up
And right on time
And right on time!
We got cars
We write laws
We won't pause
Don't you know we're wizards working in Oz
We don't lose
We might bruise
Yeah but we'll rain fire on ya till you're playing
All of your cards
We're waking up
We're waking up
And right on time
And right on time
We'll take these roads
We'll break them up
And right on time
And right on time!
On time!
Right on time!
Waking up!
Waking up!
Yeah
Ooh!
Oh!
Ooh!
On Nolan's Avenue
Down where the air is thick
As L.A. skies are blue
The water tried to break it down
But it held through
It gave a little for the sake of staying true
We cut ties
We tell lies
We hate change
And we wanna claim where we feel
We take toes
We rake yours
Yeah we dig holes
And we're diggin' right in your fears
We're waking up
We're waking up
And right on time
And right on time
We'll take these roads
We'll break them up
And right on time
And right on time!
We got cars
We write laws
We won't pause
Don't you know we're wizards working in Oz
We don't lose
We might bruise
Yeah but we'll rain fire on ya till you're playing
All of your cards
We're waking up
We're waking up
And right on time
And right on time
We'll take these roads
We'll break them up
And right on time
And right on time!
On time!
Right on time!
Waking up!
Waking up!
Yeah
Ooh!
Oh!
Ooh!
Lyrics submitted by fabregas111, edited by Fogmoz, FruitCakes
Waking Up Lyrics as written by Drew Brown Ryan Tedder
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Downtown Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Though I think some of the interpretations are sketchy, somehow I relate this song to a political statement, deep deep in imagery and metaphors. Shaking things up and calling out everyone who claims to have the same monotonous sense of the antithesis of Ghandi's "be the change you wish to see in the world" quote. Everyone likes to whine and complain but make no effort to change even themselves, on several different levels of government/society ranging from the individual all the way up to countries.
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A few corrections, this is how I hear the song:
I found verity On N'Orleans Avenue (?) Down where the air is thick *As any skies are blue The water tried to break it down But it held through It gave a little for the sake of staying true
We cut ties We tell lies We hate change And we wanna claim where we feel We take tolls We rake (?) Yeah we dig holes And we're diggin right in your field
We're waking up We're waking up And right on time And right on time We'll take these roads We'll break them up And right on time And right on time!
We got cause We're outlaws We won't pause *Don't you know where all this is working the hours We don't lose We might bruise Yeah but we'll rain fire on ya till you're playing All of your cards
We're waking up We're waking up And right on time And right on time We'll take these roads We'll break them up And right on time And right on time! ON TIME! ON TIME! *Right on time Waking Up! Waking Up! Yeah
Oooh! Oh! Oooh!
"Don't you know where all this is working the hours."<br /> THIS SOUNDS SO RIGHT, FINALLY! Lots of people and websites said "Don't you know we're always working this hard."<br /> "We take tolls," "We got cause," and "And we're diggin right in your field" sound like they make more sense, too, but it doesn't sound like he says "outlaws" in the song and it also sounds more like "LA's skies."
He's clearly talking about New Orleans in the first section of the song. "The water tried to break it down But it held through" I think that's referring to the levees in New Orleans during hurricanes. If I'm right, then it's definitely "on Orleans Avenue" I live in New Orleans and I believe there's actually a street called Orleans Avenue.
A few corrections.... This is the way I hear it every time, but I could be wrong. It makes sense with how weird OneRepublic's lyrics can be sometimes, though.
We've got cause We're outlaws Don't you know **We're wizards working in oz
I could be crazy though, I've been known to hear strange lyrics... :P
"Got cause" makes a LOT more sense to me lol.<br /> But I'm not sure about "outlaws," in the song I think I hear the r, so it sounds like "write laws."
Lyrics: "We take tolls (makes more sense than toes) We rake coals (First, he doesn't seem to pronounce a y in this phrase. Second, "to rake coals" means to criticize or overly scold) Yeah, we dig holes And we'll dig 'em right in your fields" ("fields" seems to complete the metaphor of "digging," and if you listen carefully it sounds more like "we'll dig 'em" as opposed to "we're diggin.'" )
"We got cause (makes more sense than "cars") We write laws (Hard to distinguish from "we're outlaws," but I think "write laws" fits better) We won't pause Don't you know, we're all wizards, welcome to Oz" (This is a really tricky phrase, but I read from an interview that Ryan Tedder stated the lyrics like this, and if you listen to it, it sounds like it, too.)