"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.
Oh, I have lived for ages I'm a thousand turns of tides
I'm a thousand wakes of springtime and thousand infant cries
Oh, a thousand infant cries
I got sixteen hundred tigers now tied to silver strings
When they plowed in the pastures, oh the mighty heart will sing
Oh, the mighty heart will sing
But I'll always be blamed for the sun going down with a sigh
But I'm the light in the middle of every man's fog
I bend my arrows now in circles and I shoot around the hill
If I don't get you in the morning, by the evening I sure will
By the evening I sure will
Because I'm the fire on the mountain you have lit up in your dream
But also water on the fountain you could send myself on me
You could send myself on me
Because I'll always be blamed for the sun going down with a sigh
But I'm the light in the middle of every man's fog
And no I never meant to say these words but yes you ought to know
That the dark in what I've always been, it will not ever go
No it will not ever go
And for so I lived a thousand years, a thousand turns of tides
Just a thousand leaves in autumn and a thousand ways to try
Oh, a thousand
It's just a thousand ways to try
Ways to try
I'm a thousand wakes of springtime and thousand infant cries
Oh, a thousand infant cries
I got sixteen hundred tigers now tied to silver strings
When they plowed in the pastures, oh the mighty heart will sing
Oh, the mighty heart will sing
But I'll always be blamed for the sun going down with a sigh
But I'm the light in the middle of every man's fog
I bend my arrows now in circles and I shoot around the hill
If I don't get you in the morning, by the evening I sure will
By the evening I sure will
Because I'm the fire on the mountain you have lit up in your dream
But also water on the fountain you could send myself on me
You could send myself on me
Because I'll always be blamed for the sun going down with a sigh
But I'm the light in the middle of every man's fog
And no I never meant to say these words but yes you ought to know
That the dark in what I've always been, it will not ever go
No it will not ever go
And for so I lived a thousand years, a thousand turns of tides
Just a thousand leaves in autumn and a thousand ways to try
Oh, a thousand
It's just a thousand ways to try
Ways to try
Lyrics submitted by synapsistapped
Thousand Ways Lyrics as written by Kristian Matsson
Lyrics © ROUGH TRADE PUBLISHING, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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It's from the perspective the moon. The reference to the tides, being reflected back from a fountain, the light in every man's fog. The tigers on silver strings are the stars.
oh holy shit...
I think the chorus is slightly different, and by doing so it really enhances the meaning of the song:
But I'll always be blamed for the sun going down on US ALL But I'm the light in the middle of every man's FALL
:)
That is the correct lyric.
I think the song is about a Man telling his Ex that she will never forget him and that he will live "for ages I'm a thousand turns of tides" in his Ex's mind, where he will live forever and the memory of him will turn round and round in her mind.And although he will "always be blamed for the sun going down with a sigh" meaning he will always be blamed for the ending of their relationship ;he is still "the light in the middle of every man's fog" meaning that her future lovers don't matter because she will never forget him. He is light, her true love and every other future lover is just fog. It also means she will look for the love they had and him, "the light", in every relationship she has with other men, "the fog". The line "If I don't get you in the morning, by the evening I sure will" means that if she does not think of him in the morning she will think of him in the evening because he will always be in her thoughts.In the lines "And no I never meant to say these words but yes you ought to know/That the dark in what I've always been, it will not ever go/No it will not ever go" he is saying he didn't want to tell her this but he will always live in the dark recesses of her mind,the memory of him will never go. At the end he once again says he will live a thousand years in in the tide of her mind as he will turn round and round in her mind and she will try a thousand ways to forget him.
@vargasf2 this is so good I love your interpretation. Please do one on one of my favorite songs.
The narrator is a god-like man or spirit that gives hope to the people while at the same time being blamed for misfortune. I really like the song, it's very of the earth and folky. I think the "tigers" lines refer to his music's power, the "silver strings" being his guitar strings. Or you can see the whole song as metaphors for his optimism. It takes in the whole width and breadth of time, suggesting there are thousands of ways to live life. The song is kind of religious now that I think about it.
Yeah I like the moon point by FreeGlenn. Also I'm hearing a different lyric at one point:
I got sixteen hundred tigers now tied to silver strings When they PULL OUT in the pastures, oh the mighty HARP will sing
Think about it, the 1600 strings make a harp. Despite being so symbolic and cryptic, Tallest Man's lyrics almost always make sense down to every detail if you parse them out enough. Like a good poet, he has a reason for using every word. And in this case Harp makes a lot more sense than Heart.
It's refreshing to hear someone sing emotionally with such thought in the words. I heard someone criticize Tallest Man for being so heartfelt or "hipsterish" but I think these people (d-bags?) aren't even paying attention to what the songs are about. They're mixing him up with other artists who maybe don't have as much depth in the lyrics.
I really like this reading, it is definitely a riddle. I love the idea of the stars raining down to make the strings of a harp in the sky.<br /> <br /> But i wouldn't discount the answer to the riddle being his optimism, muse or creative spirit. <br /> <br /> GHS 1600 acoustic guitar strings are a popular make he likely used when composing the song.<br /> <br /> As a poet i think he can have it both ways. The moon has throughout history symbolized/embodied the human creative impulse.<br /> <br /> On a side note. I met the Tallest Man a few years ago when he played probably the smallest venue in Adelaide, The Grace Emily Hotel. Great guy. He's back in town this year headlining Earth Station, can't wait.
The perspective of the moon makes a lot of sense......but I still think it's God.....especially by the lines "the fire on the mountain" and "the dark in what I've always been" also the title line of the song "thousand ways to try" doesn't make sense with the moon but it can in the sense of God trying to mold us or the Earth.
It's a riddle.
agreed, but what is the answer?
the moon? that's all i can come up with...
What are the thousand "ways to try?"
The moon as a solution to the riddle makes sense.
"And no I never meant to say these words but yes you ought to know That the dark in what I've always been, it will not ever go No it will not ever go"
Feels like he's talking about the dark side of the moon, and the fact that the same side of the moon faces us always, due to tidal locking.
As previously said, the lyrics are from the perspective of the moon. In some lines its obvious. "I'm a thousand wakes of springtime and thousand infant cries" could maybe relate to either childrens fear of the dark or maybe werewolfes?
Even though its a moon-themed song I guess its methaphorical in some sense. There are two sides of a coin etc.