"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.
Now the bough breaks
The books I read
Said you were a fragile kid
Just as I imagined it
Your story goes
Another nosebleed
Roses on the pillowcase
The fever breaks
And you're back on earth again
You rehearse
In the living room
The nursemaid comes mid-afternoon
To say "you've practiced long enough today"
She takes your bow
It's suppertime
But oh, your only appetite
Was fixed on the chaconne you'd hoped to play
So soon you're off
To the academy
The honors
And the accolades
First a darling
Then a marvel
When we met
I was still a young girl
But you had changed, already famous
Your name was a contagion
You were vain and hard to take
All the same, I was brazen
How the tides rise
Oh, how the tides rise
I don't suppose you'd tell the truth
So I won't ask you anymore
All the things that we do
To pass the time between the wars
I don't regret a single day
Heard your chaconne on every stage
But your love sleeps in a velvet case
So what'd you bring me for?
What'd you bring me for?
Yeah, oh
I hear you keep your pretty wife alive
On only brie
They say a dozen years ago
She could have passed for me
She doesn't trust you with the baby
Maybe better that way
Safe in your study
Going grey
You're at your best
When you're alone
Above the fray
With your chaconne
Now the bells toll
The books I read
Said you were a fragile kid
Just as I imagined it
Your story goes
Another nosebleed
Roses on the pillowcase
The fever breaks
And you're back on earth again
You rehearse
In the living room
The nursemaid comes mid-afternoon
To say "you've practiced long enough today"
She takes your bow
It's suppertime
But oh, your only appetite
Was fixed on the chaconne you'd hoped to play
So soon you're off
To the academy
The honors
And the accolades
First a darling
Then a marvel
When we met
I was still a young girl
But you had changed, already famous
Your name was a contagion
You were vain and hard to take
All the same, I was brazen
How the tides rise
Oh, how the tides rise
I don't suppose you'd tell the truth
So I won't ask you anymore
All the things that we do
To pass the time between the wars
I don't regret a single day
Heard your chaconne on every stage
But your love sleeps in a velvet case
So what'd you bring me for?
What'd you bring me for?
Yeah, oh
I hear you keep your pretty wife alive
On only brie
They say a dozen years ago
She could have passed for me
She doesn't trust you with the baby
Maybe better that way
Safe in your study
Going grey
You're at your best
When you're alone
Above the fray
With your chaconne
Now the bells toll
Lyrics submitted by soothingvapors
The Chaconne Lyrics as written by Dustin Edward Kiel Dessa Margret Wander
Lyrics © Bluewater Music Corp.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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First off, in case anyone’s wondering: A Chaconne is a particular type of musical arrangement. Check Wikipedia. There’s also a particular famous one called “The Chaconne” by Bach, which I guess is the definitive one. I’m pretty sure it’s what the song is referencing. Also, later in the song when Dessa mentions “brie”, that’s a type of French cheese. That makes sense because “Chaconne” is actually the French spelling of “Ciaccona”.
I think the song is about a family member, possibly her grandfather or someone similar. A relative that she mostly knew by reputation, but wasn’t close with. Maybe a great-uncle? But there’s a line about how she resembles his wife, which would imply that they’re relatives. She’s also much younger.
Anyway, he was sickly as a child (as evidenced by the lines about nosebleeds and the nursemaid), and practiced with the violin and his "chaconne", since he was unable to do anything else.
He went to the "academy" (some sort of music school?) and became famous due to his skill on the violin. This was around the time that the narrator was born and was first getting to know this person (the line "first a darling, then a marvel, when we met I was still a young girl”).
I think the song’s expressing angry and pity at this person. For example, the line about how he was “vain and hard to take”. Also, I’m pretty sure the line “your love sleeps in a velvet case” is meant sardonically; his “love” isn’t a person but his violin. The verse about his wife shows that he didn’t really love her; I think the line about keeping her alive on brie is a metaphor — he neglected her and only paid her enough attention as was minimally required, since he’d rather by working on his chaconne. This seems to be supported by the line about how she won’t trust him “with the baby”, because he wouldn’t pay attention to it. He just sits in his room, focusing on his chaconne, his obsession.